Black Ice
by Leo-Arcana
Summary: Tooth had once suggested that sleeping would help restore Jack's memory, so he spends the summers down in Antarctica catching up on well deserved sleep. However, one little accident from the Winds has caused the frozen spire of nightmare sand to break and the darkness within it to seek out Jack.
1. Accidents Happen

A few years had passed since the Guardians had defeated Pitch. Without the Nightmare King around anymore, the Fearlings slowly died off on their own, and the Guardians were able to go back to their normal lives. Toothiana could have her little fairies retrieve teeth without worrying about them being attacked by Fearlings. Sandman could orchestrate his dream sand without interruptions from corrupted nightmare sand. Aster didn't have to worry about Nightmares lurking in the shadows, waiting to trample his Easter eggs. North didn't need to watch the globe, panicking when lights began to go out. And Jack, of course, could roam the Earth without fear of an ambush.

However, Jack had spent the majority of his time at Santoff Clausen. Sandy and Tooth were working every night, which was technically twenty-four seven, since it was always night somewhere. So, hanging around Tooth Palace or Sandy's sand-crafted floating ship really had no point to it. Jack tried staying at the Warren to bother Bunny, but the Warren's warm spring temperature had made him start to feel a little sick. Once in a while, Bunny would venture up to Santoff Clausen, using the excuse of him trying to spare elves and yetis from Jack's mischief or something along those lines. As much as he refused to admit it, he enjoyed the winter spirit's presence.

But even between Bunny's occasional visits, freezing elves, and playing tricks on the yetis, Jack would still get bored. North was always obsessing over Christmas plans, even the day after, and that something Jack really didn't care to hear about during the summer. Sandy and Tooth had once suggested that if he were really that bored, he could just go to sleep. Jack had thought that was a stupid idea until they explained that often times, sleeping could help restore one's memory.

So he tried it one night, and they had been right. Although, the only thing he remembered was what his room had looked like. After that, he decided to sleep more often. Winter didn't allow him any sleep, and spring and fall weren't much nicer. Since he was bored during the summer anyway, he chose that season to sleep through.

Now that it was June, and things began to get too hot for his liking, he retreated down to Antarctica, to a deep underground ice cave where absolutely nothing could bother him. He tried the first year to stay at Santoff Clausen while he slept, but the elves and yetis caused too much commotion and woke him up all the time. And that rarely ended well for whatever poor souls were near him.

Towards the end of August, maybe even September, he would come back to Santoff Clausen until winter came around again. Then he would stay in Burgess, much to Jamie's delight, as well as the other children's.

It was during this particular trip to Antarctica that he noticed something was off about the grand spire of frozen nightmare sand. He paused next to it to examine it and its fairly new cracks. The fact that something as intricate, and even fragile at some points, as this could withstand Antarctica's harsh blizzards was impressive. The cracks didn't bother him much; he could fix them if really he wanted to. Maybe he would when he woke up again at the end of summer. If it started to fall apart while he slept, he couldn't really say he would miss it. It was beautiful to look at, but it also made him relive his lowest point in life.

He let out sigh and continued on to a split in the ice, the one he'd fallen into after Pitch sent him flying backwards. He hopped over the edge, alighting gracefully onto the snow below. He tapped his staff to icy wall, which shuttered and cracked to create the entrance to the cave. He didn't bother closing the entrance back up as he walked inside, he had no reason to. What was the worst that could happen, a penguin sneaking in and squawking at him?

It wasn't a long walk to the cave and he preferred it that way. Walking hundreds of miles from the coast to get to the heart of the continent didn't exactly sound appealing. Jack had re-shaped the interior of the cave to be an ice-replica of his old room from his human life. It was simple and small, but it felt like home to him. The only thing in the cave that wasn't ice was the small pile of furs lying on top of the would-be bed. Just because he was the embodiment of ice and winter didn't mean sleeping on a brick of ice was comfortable. He'd gotten the idea of lining the bed with furs after a short visit to an ice-hotel in northern Europe. That proved to be perfectly comfortable and it didn't warm him up, the furs stayed frosty all year long.

Jack propped his staff against the wall and dropped lazily onto the bed. He stretched, twisted and turned until at last he found a comfortable position to sleep in for the next few months. Once settled, it took only minutes for the young guardian to breathe a content sigh and succumb to sleep's embrace.

Outside, the Winds howled and raced across Antarctica's frozen surface. They always hated the summer because it meant they would be without Jack. They loved taking care of him and escorting him to wherever he wanted to go. He didn't treat the Winds as slaves, but more as friends; they'd been the only ones to interact with him since he was reborn until the Man in the Moon finally decided to give him a purpose.

The Winds howled for hours and danced about angrily, crashing into the sides of mountains and cliffs. They continued their rampage until the accidently knocked against the spire of nightmare sand. That happened every year and it was deafening rumble of cracking ice that always stopped them. They didn't know whether or not Jack knew they were the reason for the cracks, but they had no intention of admitting it.

However, this year the rumble of cracking ice was accompanied by a sound akin to a wire under tension snapping. The Winds reeled in panic as a sharp piece of frozen sand fell and impaled itself into the ground, throwing up a blinding flurry of snow. They hesitated, wondering if they should race into the cave and alert Jack or go straight to the North Pole and try to tell North. The snow settled back to the ground, partially covering the shard. It was just a piece of dark ice in the ground now, the nightmare sand remained frozen. Nothing had happened; there was no need to alarm anyone. The Winds whistled in relief and drifted off towards the northern half of the Atlantic, it was hurricane season now and the storms weren't going to create themselves.

Almost as soon as the Winds had left and only the usual mindless winds remained, sand began to trickle from the top of the spire where the shard had broken. Unknown to anyone, even Jack Frost, the spire had not been frozen solid. It was more of a shell than anything. The black sand skittered over the fallen shard and pooled around it until a dark ring was visible. The sand then began to slithering through the path that Jack had left and poured over the edge of the crack. It gathered itself into a pile at the bottom of the crack before slithering through the open entrance of the cave. It moved swiftly and silently over the smooth surface of the ice until it reached Jack's 'room'.

The nightmare sand curled softly against the base of the ice bed. It traced along its sides, silently climbing up to find Jack's sleeping form. The black sand swirled twice around his head before rising just a few inches above his head and began dancing around in a circle. As the sand continued to pour slowly from the spire, the ring of dancing sand occasionally brushed against Jack's face, earning a soft moan of discontent. It recoiled back each time, not wanting to create nightmares so fierce that the young winter spirit would awaken. At least, not yet.

o0o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** firstly, to those who are waiting ever so patiently for an update on my other two fics, thank you and I'm sorry. the chapters are in pieces and I'm just trying to come up with a way to bridge them that feels natural, I don't like disjointed chapters.**

**anyways, what YOU guys think of this? I love reviews and they help me update faster.**


	2. Oddity

_ Jack poked his head around the corner, looking for his father, who he was currently hoping to avoid. He hadn't done anything wrong per say, but he still felt like he was going to be in trouble. Last time this happened, his father had said it would be the last time. Jack didn't know why it kept happening, it just did. His mother would sigh and scold him for it, then his father would go some rant about him being irresponsible. _

_ He let out a breath of relief to see his father wasn't in the living room and walked silently on to his own room. He could hear footsteps coming from another and quickened his own pace. _

_ "Jackson!" he father barked._

_ Jack flinched and slowly turned around, keeping his gaze low. He saw he'd left wet barefoot footprints on the floor. He sighed and looked up to seeing his father standing where he'd been only a moment ago. His arms were crossed and he looked thoroughly annoyed with him._

_ "Where are your shoes?" his father asked._

_ "Um…" Jack bit his lip nervously, "I don't know…?"_

_ His father stared at him intensely for several seconds, keeping Jack in suspense. He took in a deep breath; Jack was sure he was about to get the lecture of a lifetime. But he was surprised when the room was filled with his father's deep laughter. Jack tilted his slightly in confusion and gave his father a questioning look._

_ "I told you, that was the last pair I was going to buy you. Now you'll have to walk around barefoot forever," the man grinned, walking over to him, "Even in the snow!"_

_ Jack let a small smile cross his lips, glad that he wasn't in trouble. Being the young boy that he was, he didn't realize it was a punishment in itself. One that could probably turn out more severe than what his father could do._

The memory slowed to a jerky halt. Everything began to darken with tints of black and deep violent, as it erased itself from Jack's mind. It didn't erase itself completely though, only the last few seconds to the point of Jack's father standing in the doorway.

_ "Where are your shoes?" his father asked._

_ "Um…" Jack bit his lip nervously, "I don't know…?"_

_ His father stared at him intensely for several seconds, keeping Jack in suspense. The man's face darkened with frustration at the boy._

_ "How many times do I have to tell you? We can't afford to keep buying your damn shoes just because you lose them in a day!" he roared._

_ Jack felt a chill run up his spine as his father started after him with lengthened strides. He suppressed a yelp of fear and he turned to run, but stumbled over his own feet. His father caught him by the shoulder with an iron grip. Jack looked up at the man with a pleading, reproachful expression. But it did nothing to soften his father's angered look. He swallowed thickly, fearing the beating that was sure to come._

xXxXx

"Aye, North!" Bunnymund called.

"Ah, Bunny! Good to see you," North greeted happily, "What brings you up here this time of year?"

"Did Jack already head down to the South Pole?" Bunny asked.

"Of course, you know he leaves in June," North replied, "Why do you ask?"

"Because I would like know…why the bloody hell I saw a frost flower come floatin' up!"

"A frost flower?" North repeated, "You know they are not just created by Jack, da?"

"I know," Bunny replied shortly.

"So what is problem?"

"I saw it…_in Moreton Bay_!" Bunny exclaimed.

North hummed, pondering over it a moment and walking over to the globe of twinkling lights. He circled around it until he came to the Australian continent and searched for Moreton Bay. Bunny slapped a paw to his face before hopping up beside North and pointing to it on the globe.

"Ah, there it is," North said, as if he'd found it himself, "Are you sure Jack made the flower? If I am right in thinking, it is almost winter time in Australia, da?"

"Yeah. _Almost_," Bunny growled, "But it ain't anywhere near cold enough for somethin' like that. That kind of stuff stays by the poles."

"Perhaps, Jack wanted to tease one more time before he sleeps?" North suggested.

"That's what I thought for a second, but if Jack was tryin' to mess with me, he woulda sent a whole garden of whatever of those things."

"Hm, good point. Jack does things over the top…" North mused.

Bunnymund crossed his arms and tapped his foot impatiently, waiting for a more valid response from North. The Russian simply stood there, stroking his beard in thought. Bunnymund thought he was going to get an explanation when North opened his mouth to speak. Instead, all he got was North asking an elf where the cookies were.

"Are ya kiddin' me, mate?"

"I think Jack is just upset with bad memory. Nothing to worry about," North shrugged.

An elf came scampering up to North with a plate of cookies. The little creature offered the plate to him with a guilty smile. North took the plate and examined one of the cookies on it and then glared at the tiny elf.

"Did you eat cookie? …And then spit back onto plate?!"

The elf took a step back, with the same guilty smile and held his hands up with a shrug. North shooed the elf away with his boot, even chasing the creature a few feet. He dropped the plate onto the broad railing around the around the globe, giving it a look of disgust, then turned back to Bunny. The pooka still waited impatiently for an explanation.

"Alright, alright. I will talk to Tooth of Sandy when I can," North sighed, "They give Jack the idea, they should know what is wrong."

"Well, it better be soon, mate. If I find one more of those flower things floatin' in my harbors, I'm gonna go teach the little pest a lesson myself," Bunny huffed.

"Do not worry, everything will be okay," North smiled and turned to a yeti, "Phil! I have job for you."

Phil stopped painting, or rather re-painting, a robot he was working and blathered some kind of protest in yetish. North waved off the protest and told him to deliver a message to Tooth and Sandy. The yeti sighed, setting the half-finished robot down beside the others, and trudged off to retrieve teleporting snow globes. North also called after him to fetch a new plate of cookies when he returned. Bunnymund saw Phil's shoulders sag as he slapped his hand to his face, but otherwise made no remark.

"Will you wait for them?" North asked.

"Nah, I gotta get that frost flower outta the bay before all of Aussie has a heart-attack," Bunnymund replied.

"Probably good idea."

Bunnymund escorted himself to just outside of Santoff Clausen and tapped the ground with him foot, opening up a wide tunnel in the ground. The pooka hopped in, closing it up behind him, and bounded through the tunnel. While it should've taken him days to reach Australia, he was there in a matter of minutes, poking his head out of a new tunnel opening. He glanced around for any signs of children who might see him and start calling attention to him, but thankfully night had begun to settle over the continent and the few people who were still out were all adults.

Bunnymund made his way stealthily over to the nearby docks. Just because adults couldn't see him didn't mean he could be careless; they could still see the things he interacted with. Bunnymund paused a moment at the end of the dock, overlooking the bay. The flower had remained intact throughout the day, which meant it would be able to last through the night as well. Bunnymund grumbled to himself as he climbed into a small boat tied to the dock. As long as the boat's owner didn't come by and start panicking, people would just assume a poorly tied knot had come undone and the waters were carrying the boat out into the bay.

After what felt like an eternity of rowing with a single ore, Bunnymund finally made it to where the flower was floating. He leaned over the edge of the boat to pick it up out of the water, careful to mind the sharp points of wisps and ribbons. As he set it in the bottom of the boat, he had to admit it was a lot bigger than he first thought. The flower was nearly two and a half feet in diameter.

"This better be one of your tricks, Frostbite," Bunnymund mumbled.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** well, this story is taking off faster than my others. I love all of you guys!**


	3. Investigations

_ Jack was still getting used to not being seen or believed in. But the mid-1940s had given him a glimmer of hope. A few of the shops on the street played Christmas music over small speakers for passerbys to hear and enjoy. Jack sat crouched on top of a light pole, watching the people walking down the sidewalk beneath him, and waiting to hear the song again. He'd been hanging around that street for so long, he learned the order of the songs that the shops would play. Which meant that he knew the next song to play was his favorite._

_ "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire~_

_ Jack Frost nipping at your nose~"_

_ He had no idea how many times he listened to that song, but he never got tired of it because it would always make small children ask their parents who he was. Their parents would give the same vague answer of 'he's the one who makes it snow' and then leave it at that. It wasn't much, but it would get the children thinking._

_ As a child and his mother passed by the street light, he heard the boy ask his mother the same question. Jack floated down off the street light and followed them silently, waiting to hear the mother's answer. Even if it was the same, at least someone was talking about him._

_ "Jack Frost is—"_

The vision of the memory faltered and darkened for a moment. Having already changed several memories, the nightmare sand was getting better at smoothly rewriting them and making them more convincing than before.

"—_the reason people get hurt in the winter."_

_ "What!" Jack exclaimed._

_ "Whenever people slip on ice and hurt themselves, or they get really sick with a cold," the mother continued, "When cars slide and get into accidents. Or when it snows so much that roofs start to cave in, it's all because of him."_

_ "N-no, it isn't! All that stuff is an accident and I'm not even there half the time it happens!" Jack defended._

_ "He sounds mean," the little boy commented, "I don't think I like him…"_

_ That comment tore his heart in half. He would almost rather be ignored than disliked. In a fit of anger, Jack slammed the end of his staff to the ground. Ice sprawled over the sidewalk, quickly caught up to the mother and formed a thick patch right in front of her. The second she stepped on it, her feet went out from under her and she hit the ground hard with a chilling crack; the sound of her arm breaking._

_ Jack's anger immediately dissipated and turned to horror as the woman on the ground screamed in pain. Jack turned and shot off into the night sky, beginning to feel sick with guilt._

xXxXx

A knock at the door to his workshop alerted North to someone coming. He knew it wasn't one of the yetis, they would've just flung the door open again. He glanced over his shoulder to see both Tooth and Sandy hovering in the doorway, not wanting to startle him while he worked on another little ice sculpture. He set the ice train on his desk and stood up to welcome the two joyously, as he did with everyone. If Tooth didn't need her wings to fly, and Sandy didn't keep low to the ground, North would've locked them both in a tight bear hug.

"Is something wrong, North? Phil said it was important," Tooth said, "Or at least, I think he did."

"It is not big deal, but Bunny thinks it is," North started, "He found frost flower in Moreton Bay yesterday."

"Jack's probably just messing with him," Tooth sighed.

Sandy nodded in agreement.

"Only one flower," North added, in a more serious tone, "Bunny thinks maybe something is wrong with Jack."

Sandy conjured sand over his head to create an image of Jack sleeping with a question mark.

"Yes, he is sleeping. He left the day before Bunny came here about frost flower," North answered, "Bunny sent a message saying that frost flower was there all day."

Sandy manipulated the sand to show Australia with and arrow pointing all over the continent in a questioning manner.

"Here," North said, poking a spot in the sand where Moreton Bay was.

"But, if a frost flower was there all day…" Tooth murmured.

The sand shifted to a thermometer that was quickly dropping in temperature.

"Maybe someone should check on him," Tooth said, "I'm sure it's just a bad memory, but still."

"Well, sleeping was your idea so we go with your solution," North affirmed, "I will tell Bunny to do it."

Sandy manipulated the sand to show both Tooth and himself going down to Antarctica.

"No, no, my friend. You and Tooth must keep tending to children every night. Bunny is not busy and he is one most worried, he can do it."

"Are you sure?" Tooth asked.

"Da, it will be fine," North smiled, "Phil! I have 'nother job for you!"

The three of them heard Phil yell from the otherside of the main workshop. Tooth fought back a giggle as the yeti slunk into North's workshop, reminiscent of teen being called over unwillingly by their parents.

"I need you to tell Bunny is okay for him to check on Jack."

Phil's jaw dropped with a sound of disbelief. He then began complaining, or so Tooth and Sandy thought, about him always being the one to run messages. He gestured to the pile of toys he had been assembling, then to the tool in his hand, and to the grand clock on the wall that counted down to Christmas.

"I see point," North said, thoughtfully.

Phil sighed and started back towards the pile of toys.

"Save time by skipping message delivering. You can check on Jack."

Phil stopped in his tracks and faced North with a look shock and annoyance. He dropped the tool in his hand and waved his hands wildly, ranting so quickly that Tooth and Sandy couldn't even guess what it was about.

"Bunny does not like cold anyway and you are yeti," North stated, "Sooner you go, sooner you come back."

Phil threw his hands up in defeat and stormed off.

"Really, North, it's okay if one of us checks on him," Tooth offered.

Sandy nodded.

"He is just being baby. I tell you, is okay."

Tooth and Sandy gave Phil a sympathetic look as he walked to a more open space to use the teleporting snow globe. He muttered where he wanted to go and tossed the snow globe ahead of him, spooking a few nearby elves, then ran into the projected, swirling portal.

The other side of the portal spit him out into the snow and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Phil picked himself up out of a snow bank and began to dust himself off, only to be knocked down again by a powerful rogue wind. He cursed his luck of being sent here as he got up again, this time bracing for any winds. Phil climbed out of the snow bank and out of the safety of the rocky overhang that protected it. He was shoved back by more forceful winds than before and nearly blinded by all the snow whirling around. He even felt little nips at skin; small shards of ice being picked up off the ground and thrown about.

Phil stumbled back under the protection of the overhang and pulled out the second snow globe he'd brought with him. He ordered it to show him where Jack was, but not to open a portal. If the first one was unable to take him straight to Jack, the second wouldn't do much better. A snowflake twirled within the globe, pressing against front side of the glass. Phil kept the globe out to guide him as he made his way through the deep snow.

While he forced his way through the snow, he kept mumbling about Jack creating the blizzard in the first place. He understood the boy wanted to be left alone, though he was sure Jack never understood it when Phil wanted to be left alone, but putting up such a white out was over the top.

Taking another step, the snowflake within the globe suddenly jumped back to press against the opposite side. Phil took a step back; the snowflake jumped forward again. He gave it a rough shake and stepped forward again. The snowflake jumped back. Phil stared at the globe for moment, looked at the ground, and back at the globe; underground. He dropped his hands to his sides with a cry of frustration. Now he would have to find a way to get underground. Phil complained out loud, though he could hardly hear himself over the storm, and decided to press forward.

He had barely taken three steps before the icy ground went out from under him. A fearful and panic-filled two story drop led to him landing in yet another snow bank. Phil groaned in pain before righting himself and checking himself for any injuries. Luckily, there was nothing major. But there was sure to be a few nasty bruises later. He glanced around the interior of massive crevice and found a break in the ice. He started pawing away at the built up snow in front of it, hoping that the entrance was larger than it looked. As he dug, he thought for a moment he felt something coarse within the snow, but dismissed it as being more tiny fragments of ice.

After a few minutes of digging, he finally cleared away all the snow only to find the entrance was not any bigger than he was hoping it would be. It was just big enough for the winter spirit to pass through, and why should it be any bigger? Phil growled in annoyance and got down to his hands and knees, then started crawling through the ice tunnel. A handful of times, he scraped against a patch of rock sticking out of the ice, but didn't let it faze him. He just wanted to find Jack, make sure he was alright, and then get the high hell out of there.

He was entirely grateful to make it to the actual cave itself, which opened up large enough for him to stand again. Being this far into the ice, the outside storm sounded little more than a distant hum. The noise that caught his attention, and put him on edge, was the sound of constantly shifting sand whispering through the cave. He followed the sound to a well-carved replica of room, but had no time to admire it. He stared at the ground in horror as he saw the thin layer of nightmare sand flowing across it. Phil flinched back several feet when a tendril of sand made a lazy attempt to grab at his ankle.

He eyes darted between the retreating tendril, Jack's sleeping form and the floating black halo of sand above his head. Phil spun around to leave as fast as he could, he had to tell North and the other Guardians as soon as physically possible.

"Don't you know it's rude to spy on people while they sleep?"

Phil nearly jumped out of his skin as he came face to face with Pitch. He stumbled back, falling on his rear, and frankly tried to tell the snow globe to take him back. He didn't care if the portal took half the cave and Pitch along with him; at least it would spit them out right in front of the Guardians. The sand reached for him again, interrupting him and causing him to scramble towards the Nightmare King.

"I'll take that," Pitch smiled as he took the snow globe.

Phil uttered something in yetish and attempted to snatch the globe back. But Pitch simply side stepped his reach and held the globe up to his face.

"Yunnan," Pitch ordered.

He threw the globe against the wall, shattering it into a portal that began to draw Phil in, along with some of the black sand.

"Well, off you go!" Pitch said merrily and gave the yeti a swift kick towards the swirling portal.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** …Yunnan is in southern China, by the way.**


	4. Storm on the Horizon

_ Jack didn't like this, rather, he hated it. The idea of hiding in a bush for hours hardly sounded fun. Jack loved to hide and spook people, even animals, but that wasn't why he was hiding. His father had decided it was time for him to 'be a man and go hunting'. Jack knew that someone had to do the hunting and bring home food or furs to sell. He just didn't want to be that someone; he couldn't stand the thought of him having to kill another living creature._

_ His father had said they weren't going to bother with small game, like rabbits and squirrels, since he thought Jack should already be able to hunt those. They were hunting deer or anything bigger. Jack had asked what that meant exactly, but his father waved it off and said he would see if the opportunity presented itself. He continued to wonder if they would see anything bigger, getting lost in thought…_

_ Then a twig snapped and Jack nearly jumped out of the bush._

_ "Relax, boy," his father whispered, trying not to laugh, "It's only a rabbit."_

_ Jack let out a breath and looked down at the rabbit who stared back curiously._

_ "Pay attention, I think one's coming," his father said, barely audible._

_ With his father focused on where he thought a deer would be any second, Jack rolled his eyes and returned his attention to the rabbit. He reached out to it silently and gave it swift, gentle tap on the nose. The rabbit froze for a couple seconds, staring at him in horror, before blinking and regaining its curious expression. Jack smiled as it hopped closer, allowing him to ruffle its fur and scratch behind its ears. Both Jack and the rabbit heard his father move, followed by a deafening bang. The rabbit turned and fled while Jack covered his ears with a yelp of pain._

_ "Dammit, something scared it," his father grimaced._

_ "Probably the gun shot!" Jack snapped loudly._

_ "Quiet down or you'll scare the others."_

_ Jack stared at his father in disbelief as he stood up and walked out of the bush. If the gunshot didn't scare anything, neither would Jack's yelling. Jack scowled and reluctantly followed. He hoped all the animals were scared away so they could just go home._

_ "Quit stomping," his father ordered._

_ "I'm not stomping."_

_ The two walked a few more yards before his father turned to face him._

_ "Boy, I just told you to—" his father froze mid-sentence._

_ "…What?"_

_ "…Don't move."_

_ "What—what's behind me…!?"_

_ It didn't take a genius to figure there was something behind him, especially with his father reloading his gun, all the while not taking his eyes off whatever was behind him. Jack remained as still as he possibly could until he couldn't take it any longer and whirled around to see whatever it was._

_ "Jack, don't—"_

_ The rest of his sentence was cut off by a grizzly's furious roar._

xXxXx

"What's going on?" Bunnymund panted as he came running into the globe room.

"Good, Bunny is finally here," North said, "Perhaps flying would be faster next time. Tooth and Sandy were both here first."

"Hey, if ya just called us up here to make fun of dislike of flyin', I'll gladly go back to my Warren," Bunnymund warned.

"No, no, no. This is important," North replied in a serious tone, "_Very_ important."

Sandy waved his hands around to tell North to hurry up and get to the point.

"Right. You know I send Phil to check on Jack, da?"

The three of them nodded.

"That was three days ago. He has not come back."

"Well, if the snow globe didn't know Jack's exact location or he's some place it can't open in, Phil would have to look around for him, right?" Tooth asked.

"Da."

"Antarctica's a pretty big place, mate. If that's the case, it could take him a couple of days," Bunnymund added.

"I know this. The problem is this: the second snow globe Phil took, to come back, has already been used," North said.

"By who?" Tooth asked anxiously, "Phil would just come right back here, wouldn't he?"

"Exactly the point, Tooth. I have feeling something bad is happening."

An unnerving silence settled over them.

"Is the feeling in ya belly?" Bunnymund deadpanned.

"Da!" North exclaimed, grabbing the pooka by the shoulders.

Sandy conjured up little sands replicas of them looking for Phil and gave the group a questioning look.

"Maybe we should split up? Two of us can look for Phil while the other two check on Jack," Tooth suggested.

"Which ever North is doin', I'm doin' the opposite. There is no bloody way I am getting back in that death-trap he calls a 'sleigh'," Bunnymund stated.

"Last time I check, you are bunny. Not chicken," North grinned, earning a glare from the pooka.

Sandy created the image of Bunnymund and North flying in the sleigh to the south pole, with a question mark that had an 'x' over it; no questions asked. However, Bunnymund was going to ignore that part of it.

"Why me, ah? Why don't you go with him?" Bunnymund demanded.

Sandy pointed at Bunnymund and North, then created an image of strong-man flexing his arms.

"Come, Bunny! We have already wasted much time," North said.

He threw his arm around the pooka, putting him in a head lock, and led him off towards the deck where the sleigh was stationed.

Tooth went off to the room filled with the teleporting snow globes and returned with two of them. She set one on the railing and held the other up to the light to examine it. She twisted it around, looked at it from every angle, she even shook it like a normal snow globe.

"I've never used one of these before," Tooth commented.

Sandy slapped a hand to his face. He would open the portal himself, but the globes were best activated by voice. Thoughts could work, but they weren't exactly guaranteed to get you where you wanted to go.

"Can't be that hard," she smiled, "Take us to Phil."

The snow globe lit up with an image of the yeti wandering around, clearly confused and lost. The fairy tossed it ahead of them and the portal sprang open, swallowing the globe in the process. As they passed through it, they could head Bunnymund's terrified scream and North's joyous laughter.

The portal dropped them off where Phil had been just a minute ago. The yeti hadn't gotten far, it only took them a second to figure out which direction he wandered off in. The two of the caught up to him quickly and apparently spooked him. Phil jumped back and took a blind swing at them. Tooth ducked out of the way and Sandy raised a shield to stop him. The yeti's arm collided with the shield and although it was only sand, the sound of the impact sounded like it would hurt.

Phil reeled back, cradling his arm while letting out what Tooth and Sandy were sure was a string of curses in yetish. The yeti glared at them, but relaxed when he realized who they were. He apologized and wrapped them both in a bear hug, the same way North would.

"Ow, good to see you too," Tooth winced, "B-but can you let go me, please?"

Phil released them, stepping back and muttering another apology.

xXxXx

"Frostbite must be havin' a real nasty memory," Bunnymund breathed.

"Da…" North agreed.

The blizzard could be seen several miles off the coast. It was no longer a white out, since most of the powdery snow was now frozen to the ground or sides of cliffs. The fact that it was June and sunlight was starting to fail at reaching the pole made it seem all the more fierce.

"I do not care what advice Tooth or Sandy have, we must wake him before things get worse," North stated, cracking the reigns.

Bunnymund dug his claws into his seat as the sleigh rushed forward in a downward arch. They could feel the winds picking up as they drew closer to the cliffside. One wind in particular crashed into the side of the sleigh, nearly turning it over.

"Wh-what the bloody hell?! I thought the Winds were nice!" Bunnymund exclaimed in horror.

"The Four Great Winds, da. But that was not one of them," North replied, raising his voice.

The native winds began to roar and howl louder as they approached. Two winds struck the sleigh, sending it up and over towards the east. Bunnymund yelped and searched in vain for anything to hold onto while North snapped the reigns again and yelled for the reindeer to calm down. Another powerful wind bared down on them, forcing them to lose a few hundred feet of altitude in only a couple seconds. The reindeer kicked and bayed as they struggled to regain the lost height. Another wind was all too eager to help, sending them soaring far too high and nearly flipping them over in the process.

"Crikey, N-North! Do something!" Bunnymund yelled in a panic, "Anything, I don't care!"

"I am trying!" he shouted back.

North ordered for the reindeer to turn and plunge straight to the ground. It wasn't exactly what Bunnymund was hoping for, but it certainly wasn't any worse than what the winds were doing to them. The winds howled furiously as they bellowed up at them in an attempt to force them back up. A wind struck them quickly from the side, sending them into a barrel roll. North shouted and pulled the reigns, steadying the sleigh and pulling it out of its planned fall. The sleigh leveled out, now much closer to where they were trying to land.

Another wind roared and crashed into the rear side of the sleigh, spinning it around and causing it to collide into something. The sleigh rocked furiously, followed by the sound of a deep cracking, barely audible over the angry winds that continued their assault on the sleigh.

North gritted his teeth and jerked the reigns, leading the sleigh away from the frozen continent. Only then did the aggressive winds begin to let up.

"We will have to try different approach," North growled, "And with Sandy and Tooth."

Bunnymund gave no response.

"Are you still alive back there?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

Bunnymund's eyes were wide in fear and the wood of the seats, as well as the siding, were covered in dozens of frightened scratches.

"We will not fly again," North stated, "It will take days to fix those."

"Ya seriously more concerned about the bloody sleigh than what just happened?!"

"We are missing runner now," North commented, glancing over the side, "Landing will be tricky."

"God save me," Bunnymund whimpered.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** bleeeeh, so much dialogue…anyways, what do you guys think? do you want the chapters to be long or are they fine like this?**

**I still love reviews~ like…A LOT. lots of review = faster, better updates.**


	5. Winter's Embrace

_Jack wasn't one to ask for help; he never was and probably never would be. Knowing that, neither his mother nor sister had offered any help, not directly, at least. But the hunting incident left him in need of it. The bear had torn them up severely and left them for dead._ _He'd been brought back, along with his father, by another group of men out hunting. His mother nearly had a heart attack and his sister hadn't been allowed to see him, not until he was bandaged up and resting soundly. She also hadn't been allowed to see her father. But there was less fussing around him. The women who were cleaning up the tough man worked slowly and somberly. Jack's mother knew the answer already, but still she asked if the man would make it._

_ "No."_

_ Another woman held her arm to steady her for a moment. She led her to the otherside of the room, allowing her to sit on the foot of Jack's bed. The boy was constantly in and out of consciousness, but his mother was assured he would be fine. His mother's eyes fixed on the wrappings around his knee, where a large stain of blood had already blossomed. _

_ Jack's mother, hoping to distract her daughter who was still in the room, had asked her to go fetch a walking staff from the general store up the road. When she asked why, her mother had simply replied that if she wanted to help Jack get better, she would do it. When the girl had left the house, she glanced up his face. He looked at her with dreary, unfocused eyes and tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come out. She gently cupped her son's face, tears brimming her own eyes. She knew what her son was trying to say._

_ "Apologies and excuses won't work this time, Jack," she said with soft, broken smile, "You have to take the blame this time." _

The distant howling of the wind was nothing compared to the rumble of thunder that echoed throughout the ice cave.

"Oh my, seems that one struck a little deep," Pitch commented, with a grin playing at his lips.

xXxXx

"Never again, North!" Bunnymund breathed, "_Never. Again._"

North waved him, saying that he would eventually ride in the sleigh again because everybody loved the sleigh. However, it would sometime before anyone could ride in it again. While the Antarctic Winds had done quite the number to it, not to mention Bunnymund's clawing, the landing had nearly destroyed it. The reindeer had ran faster in attempt to keep away from the crashing sleigh, but still being reigned to it, they dragged it along with them. The right side, the one missing the runner, was nearly gone because of that.

North strode through his workshop, giving orders to various yetis to change something about what they were working on, and giving the elves 'special' and simple tasks to complete. He knew they would never be done though, or if they were, they would be done incorrectly.

Bunnymund followed along closely, keeping low to the ground and flinching whenever he heard something drop. The two of them made their way to the infirmary, where a yeti had said Tooth, Sandy and Phil were.

"How is Phil?" North asked.

"He seems fine, a little shaken up," Tooth replied, "Sandy says Phil hasn't slept in while though. So he's been trying to keep him under."

"Trying?" Bunnymund repeated.

He looked past Tooth to see Sandy sitting beside Phil with a very intense look. He was waiting the inevitable second that Phil would wake up in a panic again.

"He keeps waking up and freaking out about something. But we don't know what he's saying—"

Toothiana was cut off by Phil bolting up right and practically yelling something. Sandy immediately threw another fistful of dream sand at the yeti, effectively knocking him out again.

"So we were waiting for you to get here," Tooth finished with an apologetic look.

"He says something about Jack, but I do not know what," North mused, "Sandy, do not do that next time he wakes up."

Sandy nodded.

North turned to leave and was nearly hit in the face by several panicking fairies. The fairies swerved around his head and went straight to Tooth, chirping away wildly.

"Girls, girls! Calm down, what's wrong?" she asked, getting worried herself.

The fairies quieted down a bit, but were still clearly distraught. Baby Tooth chittered away, telling Toothiana everything.

"…We need to wake Jack up," she said.

A couple passing yetis heard this and looked at each other, shaking their heads. They'd been on the receiving end that before and would never wake him up again.

"What is problem now?" North asked.

"They said it's starting to snow in the Congo."

"The Congo? North, that's worse than the—" Bunnymund stopped, "I gotta get to the Warrens."

Bunnymund darted out of the workshop. The Congo was much further north than the Warrens. If it was snowing there, then the Warrens might be blanketed by a thick layer of snow now.

"Which part of Congo? And how much?"

North knew that once in a while, a little bit of snow in the southern part of the country was no cause for alarm.

"It's thickest in the southern part, but my fairies say it's reaching up to the middle…"

"You are right then. We must wake Jack up before things get worse," North agreed, "But flying is not option. We must use Bunny's tunnels this time. Come, we go to Warrens."

North instructed a few elves to watch over Phil, seeing as that wouldn't be a difficult task. But he also asked a yeti to check in on him once in a while, just to make sure. After retrieving a snow globe and telling it to take them to Bunnymund's Warrens, a small carrot icon appeared within it, indicating the globe was ready. He tossed it ahead of them, opening the portal, and the three Guardians stepped through it.

Only a few seconds after the portal had closed, Phil woke up in yet another fright. An elf jumped up on him, attempting to scold him and tell him to go back to sleep. However, Phil wasn't fazed by the tiny creature. He grabbed the elf by his hat and dropped him on the floor before running out of the room. He stopped another yeti, asking where North and the others had gone to. The yeti shrugged his shoulders and went back to moving a crate a toys, leaving Phil standing in the hallway, cursing his luck yet again.

xXxXx

"T-these can't be the Warrens, North," Toothiana murmured.

Not only did a layer of snow cover the once warm, spring-time Warrens; it had buried them. The snow piled up over Sandy's head, forcing the silent Guardian to hover above it on a cloud of dream sand. The snow didn't create any kind of picturesque landscape either, there was something unsettling about it. The way it clung to the stone walls, trying to climb higher. The wicked looking icicles pouring over the high walls and low cliffs to meet the snow. The little daggers of ice hanging from bushes and trees. Even the very air felt like it was freezing around them.

Sandy grabbed North's jacket to get his attention and the pointed to a path that had been cleared not too far off. Obviously, it had been created by Bunnymund. But it also became clear to North that doing so was not easy. Sandy and Tooth had the luxury of flying of the frozen snow. Frozen chunks of snow groaned as North forced his way through it to reach Bunnymund's path. He had to admit the pooka was strong to have cleared such a long path already; North was winded just from the short one he had to make.

Once he did make it, the three of them took off down the path, with the ground cracking beneath North's feet. They called out once for Bunnymund, but the sound fell flat. The coldness refused to carry their voices, instead silencing them with new snow that began to drift down. It wasn't until they reached the river that they found the fourth Guardian.

"C'mon, mate! Ya gotta try harder!" Bunnymund yelled.

He trying to get one of the large stone eggs out of the river. Even the colorful river had had the joy drained from it; frozen solid with not a speck of color that wasn't a deep blue or gray. Where the stone egg had fallen in, spikes and waves of ice reached in all directions; its splash frozen the second it happened. The deep freeze had been unexpected and had come over the Warrens in a heartbeat.

Bunnymund was hacking away at the ice with his boomerang while the stone egg kicked it free leg around and tried to twist its upper half in an attempt to break the ice that held it. Twice the rocky leg almost struck the pooka.

"Stop kicking, ya gonna hit me!" Bunnymund snapped.

The egg made a sorrowful sound and continued trying to twisted its upper body. Parts of the thick ice rumbled and cracked, but still the ice held. Bunnymund took to bashing at the newer, deeper cracks, telling the egg to keep twisting.

"Bunny! Are you alright?" Tooth asked, dashing to his side.

"Ya see this, North? Do ya see what that bloody little ankle-biter's done?!" Bunnymund shouted.

The stone egg began kicking its leg again as Bunnymund left its side, storming straight up to North.

"Of course I see, is like Winter Wonderla—"

"Don't you dare say it's a Wonderland! This is a disaster!"

"Bunny, calm down," Tooth said gently, "It'll be okay, all this will thaw."

"Yeah? And when it does, what do you think is gonna be left?" he snapped.

Toothiana shrank back at his tone, earning him glares from North and Sandy. Bunnymund maintained his anger a second longer, but had to let it subside seeing the way the Fairy Queen looked at him.

"Tooth, I'm sorry…" he sighed, "But ya can't defend him this time. Have ya ever seen what this much snow leaves behind?"

"N-no, I never had to retrieve teeth from any place with so much snow," she admitted.

"Then I'll tell ya: It kills everything under it," Bunnymund breathed, "My Warrens are ruined…"

o0o0o0o

_**Author: **_**oh, Jack, you are in trouble this time. I may or may not have recently watch the Lion King and this memory may or may not have been inspired by Scar telling SImba it's his fault Mufasa is dead.**

**anyway, since this story has a good number of followers (59 as of the moment I'm typing this) how about at least 10 reviews? **


	6. Silence is the Key

_"Jack, stop doing that," his mother barked._

_ "What, this?" he asked._

_ Jack pretended to slip on the ice covered rocks, scarring his mother once again. He straightened up with a grin on his face; both his mother and sister glowered at him. Jack rolled his eyes and continued hopping from one rock to another. His mother gave a frustrated sigh and continued walking along the path. She kept her eyes focused ahead of them, determined to not let herself panic everytime he faked a fall. Their reactions only encouraged him. _

_ But Jenna, Jack's sister, didn't take her eyes off her brother. She was worried for him, of course, but she was also fascinated. She clutched her mother's dress as she watched him leap gracefully to the next rock, swinging his staff around to help keep his balance. Every now and then, Jack would catch her watching him and that was when he would decide to make a more daring move. One that always resulted in him faking a fall. Why he insisted on doing this, especially beside a cliff, was beyond either Jenna or their mother's understanding._

_ The rocks began to get further apart and more slanted as the path narrowed. Still, Jack refused to get down and walk on the path like a normal person. He steadied himself and jumped to the next rock, alighting on it softly and swinging the staff in front of himself. But the rock was coated with more ice than he'd thought; his foot slipped. Jack threw his arms out for balance as he desperately tried to regain his footing._

_ "I am not going to tell you again, Jackson—"_

_ His feet finally went out from under him. The rock came up quickly, smashing against his torso and forcing a fearful and painful yelp out of him before dropping him over the edge._

_ "Jack?!"_

xXxXx

He wasn't going to fall asleep. He wasn't going to miss them by mere seconds. He wasn't going anywhere until they came back and he could tell them what he saw at the South Pole. Phil had been waiting an entire day for the Guardians to return. As soon as he saw them, he marched straight up to them, ignoring the depressive mood that accompanied.

"Not now, Phil," North said, "Now is not good time…"

The yeti stood there with his mouth hanging open as the Guardians walked passed him. Phil made no effort to stifle of cry frustration. In fact, he made somewhat of an effort to make it louder. But the Guardians dismissed it nonetheless.

However, Phil wasn't going to wait until their mood improved. He didn't have time for that and, frankly, neither did the world. The yeti ran after them, catching the door to North's workshop and flinging it wide open. He crossed the room in only a few long strides, grabbed North's arm and spun the Russian to face him.

"Phil! What is problem?" North grumbled, "Can you not see something bad has happened?"

"Huomaan sen. Mutta on jotain jopa pahempaa!" Phil snapped back.

"Worse? What is worse than Bunny losing Warrens?"

"Jack on pulassa. Pitch Black on palautetaan."

"…If this is joke, it is not funny," North warned.

The yeti held up his arm and shook it, loosing several recognizable grains of nightmare sand. The sand glimmered darkly before losing its luster and turning blacker than coal. North stared at the sand for a moment, then looked back to Phil. The gravity of the situation finally dawning on him. North took in a deep breath and with a stern look, turned to the other Guardians. By his look, they knew whatever Phil had said was serious.

"What did he say…?" Tooth asked slowly.

"Bunny!" North barked, ignoring Tooth, "Now is no time for moping! We need tunnels!"

"Wha— Are ya serious, North?" Bunnymund snorted, "I think I have a right to mope a little, don't ya?"

"If there is time later, da. But not now, we must hurry to South Pole."

"North, what's wrong?" Tooth asked, more firmly.

"Pitch is back and he has Jack."

"Pitch?" Bunnymund repeated, "How the bloody hell did he come back? I thought he stuck hidin' in cage from the NightMares in his lair somewhere."

Sandy nodded with an equally confused look.

"So did I, but I believe Phil. And this," North said, kicking the lifeless black sand, "Does not lie."

The other Guardians stared at the sand in disbelief. Then Sandy dawned a sand-crafted war helmet and rapier, pointing it to the South as if leading a charge. Bunnymund didn't know where Jack was exactly, but Phil did. North retrieved his swords from their scabbards and pulled Phil up beside him, indicating the yeti would be going with them. Bunnymund asked where Jack was; if he was high up on a mountain, hiding in an abandoned research shack…

"Hän on jääluola," Phil replied.

"…North?" Bunnymund prompted.

"He says Jack is in ice cave."

"Any earth?" Bunnymund asked.

"Ei. Se on kiintojää, sikäli kuin olen voinut kertoa."

"Is solid ice," North translated.

"This ain't gonna be easy then," Bunnymund grumbled.

Bunnymund tapped his foot on the floor, forcing open a tunnel within the workshop's floor. Normally, he would go outside to do this because he knew the Russian hated having holes in his floor. The ground under it would close up just fine, but the floor itself would remain broken. But Bunnymund figured North would let it go this one time, given the situation. He gestured his arms for the yeti to lead the way. Phil jumped in, immediately followed by Bunnymund and then a second later, the other three Guardians.

With the hole now closed up, and flower in its place, a few elves came to investigate it. They tapped on the ground, imitating the pooka, and were sorely disappointed when nothing happened.

Bunnymund bounded alongside Phil, who was sliding down the tunnel rapidly much like North who trailed by only a couple yards. Sandy and Tooth flew quickly above them, having to move out the way anytime the tunnel slung the two northerners up its side at them with every twist. The subterranean tunnel became fairly warm as they put some distance between the North Pole and themselves. The Guardians silently thanks the Man in the Moon that the northern hemisphere's summer was still warming up and that the Equator kept its ring of heat standing strong against the approaching cold.

As they passed under the Equator and left it far behind, they all could feel the noticeable chill that swept through the earth. That made them realize that if the Equator were to fall to Jack's rogue cold front, the northern hemisphere wouldn't stand a chance; especially since part of it was still trying to shake spring off.

The tunnel's burrowing suddenly angled upward, forcing Tooth and Sandy to help Phil and North up the slippery incline. While the tunnel was new and strong, ice had already begun to pierce through it and spread around the walls and ground. It wasn't long before even Bunnymund needed help getting through his own tunnel. Breaking through the last of the earth and coming to the ice, the tunnel's speed slowed down drastically. The ice groaned and fractured, but refused to be broken.

"Well, this'll probably take a while," Bunnymund muttered.

The ice rumbled and shuddered, dropping bone-chilling frost and shards of ice down on the group, before relinquishing several feet to the tunnel. Sandy wrapped each of them up in soft cloak of golden sand to protect them from more frost to come. Again, the ice shuddered and gave several feet, though this time it took a little more time.

Eventually, after what felt like hours in the dark, blue tinted tunnel, the ice finally broke completely. They were met with an Antarctic air that stole their breath away and a stunning stillness across the land. There were no more blizzards, no crazed native winds, and absolutely no sign of life anyway. The air around them hung haunting still with small flecks of ice floating about slowly, reflecting what little light of lightning made it through the thick, blackened clouds. Thunder followed lazily, but was still powerful enough to shake the ground.

"N-North, where are those dingo-crazy win—"

Bunnymund was cut off as a native wind came screaming across the land and slammed into them ferociously, blasting away their golden cloaks as if they were nothing. Bunnymund, North, and Phil were thrown to the ground and dragged over the rough ice. Tooth and Sandy, unfortunately for them, and been hovering and were subjected to more brutality. The two were flung through the frozen air and collided with a high-rising cliff of solid ice. The wind kept at them with tremendous force, pinning them to the cliffside and making them feel as if it were literally crushing their bones.

Then suddenly it was gone.

"What the bloody hell was that?!" Bunnymund yelled, temporarily deafened.

Another raging wind swept towards them, this time from the side. All five of them were forced back to the ground and dragged until they were thrown against a snow bank as hard as a rock. The wind bared down on them, like it was trying to strangle them as it knocked their breath out. A crack of lightning and commanding roll of thunder took the vicious wind away and left them gasping for air.

Bunnymund's fur bristled as he opened his mouth to shout angrily, but Sandy quickly sealed the pooka's mouth with a thick strip of sand. The silent Guardian held a finger to his lips, indicating for them all to keep silent; the Antarctic winds were responding to noise.

The others nodded in understanding and stood up slowly, careful not to make a sound. North crept forward to retrieve his swords, which had been ripped from his hands by the first wind. He took cautious steps, eyeing the ground and avoiding rough or weak looking patches. He picked up the two chilled weapons, accidently allowing their metal to slid against the ice. Lightning shrieked above them, followed by a heart-stopping bellow of thunder; a warning.

Clearly the entire ancient continent could hear every sound, probably even the beating of Tooth's wings, and despised every disturbance. Sandy picked the group up onto a floating cloud of dream sand. Tooth settled down on it as well, stilling her wings, which was an odd feeling for her. They remained as still as possible as they drifted in the direction Phil had pointed to. Of course, pointing with only his finger and not moving a muscle more. All of them had questions and wanted to know what the others thought, but they now knew better than to speak. Instead, they settled for curious glances at one and other, as well as at where they thought the moon was; the black clouds hid the sky entirely from sight.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** little bit a cliff-hanger there, huh? by the way, each chapter is about a day in this fic, unless it says otherwise like in ch. 4 and Jack's memories are still being altered, but it's so smooth now it can't be detected…and Phil's "yetish" is actually Finnish. I dunno if that's really the case, but I thought it was pretty close sounding. GoogleTranslate if you want (that's what I used).**

**Alright, let's get to 50 reviews please! the fic is at 38 as of this moment :3**


	7. Confrontation

_ Jack's mother always stoked the fireplace hot enough to warm the entire house. Often times the house even got to warm for his liking. So, he loved to leave a window open in his room and let the cold air in. He loved it even more when it sank into his bed, giving the blankets and mattress a crisp, cool feeling. Whenever the blankets started warming up, he would shift around until he found another cool spot and continue sleeping contently. Sometimes this resulted in a limb or two hanging off the side of the bed. Jenna thought it was funny and Jack didn't care; he was sleeping, so what did it matter? But their mother thought it looked 'sloppy and lazy'. _

_ She had hoped to break that habit by telling of all sorts of monsters that hid under beds and took children in the night if they slept like that. When Jack was younger, it did scare him, but it didn't change anything. As years went on, he simply brushed off his mother's stories and slept as he pleased. _

_ However, the thought was always in the back of his mind. He didn't believe in monsters or anything of the sort, at least, that's what he told himself. He couldn't deny that once in while it felt like something unsettling would lurk around Burgess. On those nights, the small town seemed much more isolated and darker than normal; the shadows almost seemed to come to life. There was definitely something unwanted that would visit Burgess._

_ Jenna noticed these nights too, but Jack would tell her there was nothing to worry about. He would stay up most of the night, watching the outside, just to make her feel better. On this night, after Jenna had fallen asleep, Jack went back to his own room and curled up under the blankets. It wasn't long before he was asleep and a few minutes after that, started moving around in search of cooler spot on the bed. Once found, he settled back down with his arm hanging off the side of the bed._

_ He could feel a draft from beneath the bed brushing against his fingers, but it didn't bother him. The draft was always there. But tonight there was something different about it; it pulsed, like a breath. Still, Jack didn't wake up. Not even when something course brushed his fingertips. It wrapped around his hand and began to work its way up his arm. When it slithered under the blankets and around his shoulder is when he finally noticed it. He tried to wake up and pull away from it, but found himself stuck in a sort of sleep-paralysis. It crawled further over his skin; he wanted desperately to wake up and scramble away from whatever it was._

He wanted to wake up, but couldn't. Pitch laughed softly at the irony of this twisted memory. He gazed down at the gathering sea of nightmare sand shifting restlessly on the ground. All of it wanted to overwhelm Jack with horrendous nightmares, but it remained impatiently on ground, awaiting Pitch's approval.

"I'll have to thank that jolly oaf next time I see him," Pitch mused, "Things are going much faster since his sleigh broke that spire further."

xXxXx

Despite the darkness of the Antarctic winter, the Guardians and Phil could make out the shape of something unnatural protruding from the ground. North motioned at it, suggesting they investigate it. Bunnymund and Toothiana shook their heads; they were there for Jack, not to look at strange things. But Phil nodded eagerly, whatever the object was, it was in the same direction as the ice cave. The group continued to hover above the ground towards the protrusion, listening to the distant rolling thunder. Bunnymund wondered if so calm here, what it was like in the rest of the southern hemisphere. He hoped no place else had suffered like the Warrens.

Sandy stopped at the edge of deep crevice. The thing they'd seen stood on just the other side, reaching for the sky with its delicate looking wisps and strong arcs. They stared at it in wonder and as their eyes adjusted to the dark, they saw two streams falling from it. What was falling, they weren't exactly sure yet. North patted Sandy on the shoulder and nodded towards the spire. The golden cloud of dream sand drifted carefully over the crevice and closer to the spire. Tooth, Sandy and Phil noticed the two streams falling from the darkened spire, while North and Bunnymund saw something else.

They saw the broken sleigh runner buried half way into the ice beside the spire alongside a twisting mass of ice. It didn't take them long to figure out one of the streams of nightmare sands was due to their collision with the spire. But still fearing another attack from the wind, neither North nor Bunnymund said anything about it; no one said anything.

Phil shook Sandy's shoulder, tearing his attention from the grand frozen monument, and pointed back towards the crevice. Sandy nodded and guided the cloud down to the ground below, just outside the opening in the wall. The Guardians and Phil carefully set foot on the cold ground again, even Toothiana. A few feet into the tunnel, North felt it was safe to speak again; at least, at a whisper.

"Be careful not to touch sand," he warned.

The Russian hadn't even bothered to look at the group as he spoke. He'd been set on finding Jack since the moment Phil said he was in trouble. Seeing that part of that trouble might be his fault as well only increased that determination. The others kept up with North's quickened, casting cautious glances at the river of nightmare sand running under their feet. Both Phil and Sandy found it strange that the sand made no effort to reach for any of them as it normally would, like it was too focused on something to bother with them.

The tunnel opened up to a disturbingly quiet cave. While the stillness outside had been unusual and a bit unnerving, this kind of still quietness gripped their hearts with fear. They proceeded with even more caution than before, if that was at all possible, but kept themselves ready for a fight. They constantly looked around the cave for any signs of Pitch or more nightmare sand as Phil led them to the carved out room. As they approached the doorway, Bunnymund held up his paw, signaling everyone to stop. With his ears perked up, he slowly crept forward to the doorway. He swallowed thickly as his gaze followed the small black river into the room and then he felt his heart skip a beat.

Glittering black sand shifted and churned anxiously. In the center, it arced over Jack's restless, sleeping body before delving back into the nearly two-foot deep sea it had created. Then he saw the dense halo dancing over Jack's head, taunting touching his face and hair. Everytime it did, the boy would whimper in discomfort and fear, and turn over in vain attempt to escape it.

Bunnymund quickly motioned for the others to come see, and when they did, they reacted with the same fear and dread as the pooka.

"What do we do, North?" Tooth panicked.

North clenched his jaw and turned to Sandy.

"You are expert with sand," he stated, "You can do something, da?"

The silent Guardian stared at North in disbelief. But he did have a point; the rest of them couldn't exactly fight sand, especially since it didn't have a form like the Nightmares. Sandy waved his hands for them to move aside. He glanced around the cave, double-checking for any signs of Pitch. When he didn't see any, a strong whip of dream sand coiled around his hand and piled onto the floor. In a swift motion, he cracked the whip directly at the shifting sea.

The second the whip crossed into the room, it was seized by half a dozen tendrils of nightmare sand. Immediately on contact, the golden sand began shudder as it was corrupted. Sandy flinched and dropped the whip as the corruption raced down towards him. The black sand drew the whip into itself, thoroughly tainting it as it did. The Guardians and Phil stared at the mass in shock until an echoing laugh brought them back to reality.

"You didn't _really_ think that would work, did you, Sandman?"

"S-show ya self!" Bunnymund barked, readying his boomerangs.

"You shouldn't yell when people are sleeping," Pitch tutted, "It's quite rude."

"Do not play games, come, fight like a man," North challenged.

All of them searched the cave for the Boogeyman, but didn't think to watch the room at their backs. Pitch rose from the nightmare sand, his movement concealed by its shifting. He held out his hand and the sand rose to meet his hand, twisting and solidifying into a razor sharp scythe.

"Well, if you insist," Pitch said simply.

The sudden closeness of his voice alerted them to his proximity. They dropped to the floor just as the massive swung by, scratching and screeching against the icy walls.

"By the way, North," Pitch said, drawing the blade back, "I must thank you and the rabbit for breaking more of that spire; really sped things up."

Bunnymund gritted his teeth and flung his boomerangs at the Boogeyman, before launching himself towards him. Pitch ducked below one and side-stepped the other. He brought the scythe up in defense and caught Bunnymund midair before flinging him back against the scratched ice.

The nightmare sand drew itself up in a twisting heap and arced over Jack, catching Pitch's attention. Pitch gave it a nasty, disapproving look which gave North enough to get up off the floor and charge at him. Pitch heard him yell in anger and managed to get the scythe up in time to defend himself but as a result, the scythe was broken in half. It dissolved in his hands and retreated back to the shifting sea. With no defense and in close quarters with the Russian, Pitch was barely able to dance back to avoid a follow up attack, but stumbled back into the sand.

The nightmare sand began to churn in a broken rhythm, each wave reaching a little higher and taking on a more definite form until the recognizable horses were fighting their way out. North staggered back as one of them broken free and stomped angrily where he'd just been standing. Several more horses broke free, rearing threateningly before charging at the Guardians and Phil. In such a small area, the only chance they had of dodging so many Nightmares was to run back through the tunnel.

The Nightmares stampeded after them down the tunnel, knocking against each other and snapping at their backs. The commotion had already caught the attention of the Antarctic winds outside. They were unable to angle into the tunnel, but still raged through the crevice; ready to throw and suffocate them again. Tooth slowed down for only a second, but that was plenty long enough for a Nightmare to catch the edge of one of her wings in its teeth. She yelped in pain, only to have Bunnymund grab her arm and pull her forward to match the pace of the group.

Suddenly there was a dulled sound of thunder, sending confused blusters of wind in every direction, then the outside was still once again. While the others were confused, North knew what that was.

"The Great Winds are here to help!" he grinned as they ran out of the tunnel.

Once clear of the entrance, Sandy gathered them up onto a golden cloud again and brought them out of the crevice. The East Wind swept past them and barreled down into the crevice, crushing the Nightmares back into sand and forcing them back inside. The South Wind shoved them back in the direction of Bunnymund's tunnel, of which the ice portion had remained open.

"No, we can't leave Jack!" Tooth protested.

She moved to get off the dream sand, but Phil stopped her as the West Wind surged past them and slammed into an Antarctic wind, sending flurries of snow and ice everywhere.

"Meillä ei ole valinnanvaraa!" Phil barked, forcing her to sit back down.

North and Bunnymund nodded in agreement, and Sandy reluctantly moved the sand back towards Bunnymund's tunnel while the Great Winds fought against the natives to give them time to escape.

o0o0o

_**Author:**_** I admit I rushed the end a little bit here because I wanted to update before I left for work :S so um, at least 10 reviews please? there's like 94 followers so it shouldn't be hard to get 10 reviews…**


	8. Setting the Stage

_ The two of them stood on thin ice that cracked with every movement. Jack moved as slow and carefully as humanly possible so the ice didn't break so quickly. He removed his ice skates, to help him balance, and slid them away. He took a cautious step towards Jenna, only to have the ice splinter under the movement and send a new wave of fear through them both._

_ "Jack, I'm scared!" Jenna cried._

_ Tears streamed down her face and fell to the ice, slipping through the newly formed cracks. Jack glanced down below himself and took a steadying breath, returning his attention to his sister._

_ "I know, but it's gonna be okay," he said softly._

_ "How do you know?"_

_ In truth, he didn't. He actually felt very pessimistic about their situation, but he couldn't let Jenna know that. If they didn't make it, he didn't want her to feel afraid. He glanced down again and came up with an idea._

_ "How about a game?" he suggested._

_ "Jack!"_

_ "A game of hopscotch. Like this," he continued, "One…"_

_ He hopped over a step._

_ "Two…"_

_ And another._

_ "Three…!"_

_ He jumped as far away from the fractured spot and as close to his discarded staff as he could. He felt an incredible sense of relief when the ice held, even more so when he saw the hopeful smile on his sister's face. He kneeled down and grabbed hold of the walking staff._

_ "Now it's your turn," Jack encouraged._

_ Jenna bit her lip in hesitation; she was still wearing her skates and wouldn't be able to jump. She wasn't as skilled on the ice as her brother. Jack only smiled and waved for her to give it a try. Jenna took several deep breaths and stepped towards Jack._

_ "One…" he counted, distracting her from the cracking ice, "Two…Three!"_

_ Jack swung the staff and hooked it around her waist. In the same motion he pulled her away from the weak spot; the fractures followed her. The cracks shot out and under both of them, giving a short, deep rumble and then giving way._

_ Fragments of ice shot past them as the dark water opened up and swallowed them. For a split second, seeing the horrified look on Jenna's face terrified him more than the dark, freezing water. Then he was blinded as the water surged around them and paralyzed them with its icy embrace. Once completely under, in the silent darkness, he could see Jenna floating down just in front of him. His eyes trailed the staff that was still hooked around her down to his hand, holding it._

_ He dragged her down._

xXxXx

North had opened up the observatory to watch the sky. More specifically, to watch the moon and wait for answers. Answers as to why Manny hadn't mentioned Jack being in any sort of danger, why he hadn't said anything about Pitch, or why he couldn't at the very least warn them about the Antarctic winds. Despite his demanding expression, Manny remained silent.

"Anything?" Bunnymund asked.

"Unfortunately, no," North sighed, "I do not know why Manny does not anything."

"Well, if he doesn't start talkin' soon, I'm gonna go up there and beat some answers outta him," Bunnymund muttered.

"And how would you get up there? You do not like flying."

At a loss for words, Bunnymund slapped a paw to his face and glared at North.

"Oh, is joke, da?"

"Yeah…sort of," Bunnymund replied, "Where's Tooth?"

"She says she had to help one of her fairies. They were having trouble with a child's tooth or something," North waved.

"How d'ya have trouble getting' a tooth? Even we did it!"

North shrugged and returned his attention to the sky. Bunnymund and Sandy, who had silently joined them, did the same. They all understood Manny was mysterious and had his reasons for saying, or not saying, certain things. But this, in their opinions, was completely uncalled for and quite frustrating. North had another bad feeling, though he didn't voice it. This feeling had been getting worse for a few hours now and was well beyond words. North was sure he knew what caused it too, it had started as soon as he opened the observatory. Even though the moon was something more than humans thought it to be, it did follow patterns as they thought.

However, there was something about this cycle. Something about the dark crescent of its waning that North found to be disturbing, he just didn't know what it was though.

xXxXx

Toothiana fluttered quietly into the familiar house. There were two children here who believed in her, and one happened to be sleeping. She made her way through the house and up to the boy's room. When she poked her head in the room, she couldn't say she was surprised to him wide awake with Baby Tooth hovering next to him. Baby Tooth never had any really trouble, especially at the Bennett house.

"You know, Jamie," Tooth started softly, "You don't have to take your sister's tooth and hold one of my fairies hostage if you want to talk."

"Yes, I do," Jamie stated, "You don't around visiting kids like…like…"

"Jack?" she guessed, "…Is that what this is about?"

Jamie nodded.

Toothiana sighed and sat down beside him on the bed. Jamie crawled closer to the Fairy Queen, with eyes that begged for an explanation. Baby Tooth zipped to the other side of Toothiana's head, looking just as concerned as Jamie. Of course she wanted to tell Jamie and Baby Tooth that everything was fine, but evidence against that was all over the news and she was a terrible liar. But she didn't want to worsen Jamie's fear by mentioning Pitch's return. It wouldn't be good for him, it would only be good for Pitch.

"What's wrong with him?" Jamie pressed, "Is he mad at something?"

"No, no, sweetie, Jack isn't mad—"

"Then why is he doing this?"

"He's not. At least, he doesn't know he is…" Tooth answers, "He isn't having good dreams, so this is what happens."

"Can't Sandy help him?"

"Sandy tried, we all did. But we couldn't help him," Toothiana murmured.

Jamie stared at her, trying to figure out what her tone carried. Baby Tooth seemed to pick up on it first, judging by her sudden panicked chirping and darting around the room. After a minute or two of trying to calm the tiny fairy, Toothiana turned back to Jamie who now looked even more worried.

"Oh, Jamie, don't worry. He'll be fine in no time," Toothiana smiled.

Jamie was unconvinced, he wrapped his arms around Toothiana, catching her slightly by surprise, and buried his face in her feathers. He might not have known Jack for very long, but he knew the winter spirit would never do something this harsh. Jack was the Guardian of Fun and what fun could be had if the entire southern hemisphere was under a deep freeze?

Toothiana's surprised expression softened as she relaxed and patted the boy's head, deciding she would stay with him at least until he fell asleep. He was just a child whose closest friend was clearly not okay. She quietly dismissed Baby Tooth back to the palace to take charge of the other fairies for a little while. The little fairy nodded, though still appearing anxious about the situation, and disappeared out of the bedroom window.

xXxXx

The black sand was getting too excitable now. Several times Pitch had ordered it to stand down and wait patiently. Even with the corruption of this last memory, the winter storm had been unable to push past the equator. Everyone below it was struck with fear and Pitch loved every bit of it. The fear of losing homes, possessions, loved ones, heat, food and water. The fear of everything that was happening; it rolled off the southern population in luscious waves. It wasn't enough, he wanted the whole world to be afraid of the cold and the darkness that now followed, spreading from the Antarctic.

A few Nightmares, who had survived the East Wind, turned to Pitch and pawed at the frozen ground. He looked at them for a moment, then to Jack. If he wanted the cold, the _fear,_ to envelope the world, it would need an extra push to break that blazing ring and shatter the summer that had barely begun. Pitch gave the horses an approving grin; it was time for the real show to begin.

The horses bayed and reared excitedly, rushing back towards the nightmare sand and diving straight in. The once restless sea became still, compacting itself tightly to the floor and separating into several sections. The black halo above his head stopped its teasing dance and broke at one point into a strip. It descended down on him, snaking around his neck and synching tight.

Pitch strode through the parted, glittering sand over to where Jack slept, still being held under by the nightmare sand. He leaned over, bringing his face level with the winter spirit's.

"Time to wake up, Jack," he whispered sickly.

Pitch laughed quietly and sank back into the shadows. Even he didn't know what Jack's reaction to this would be; Jack was unpredictable enough when he was calm. But Pitch certainly didn't want to be there right when the boy woke up. He would come back after things settled a bit. Pitch allowed himself one last laugh as he disappeared into the rocky shadows and the sections of sand began to take shape.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** wow, you guys really wanted this chapter, huh? a tad bit shorter, but I wanted to make you all suffer with another cliffhanger because I want the reviews. So maybe 20 reviews this time? the story is at 60 and there's 102 followers (at the moment of writing this), so that's not too bad I think.**

**oh, and whoever the anon is that reviewed as "Ohmyword", send me a link when you finish the fanart. being an artist myself, I'd love to see it :D**


	9. Rude Awakening

Jack bolted upright in a panic, frantically looking around but calming down when he saw the familiar faces of the Guardians. Or rather, what he thought to be the Guardians. Smooth around the base of his neck, hidden below the line of his sweater and unnoticeable to him, the black sand collar manipulated his sight and hearing like a living nightmare.

"Ah, good you are awake now," North smiled, "I did not want to have to wake you. I know what you do to yetis elves."

"W-what…?"

He still felt a little bit disoriented and tired, but after a second he knew what North meant and couldn't hide his guilty smirk.

"Now ain't the time for smilin'," Bunnymund cut, "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"You know exactly what."

"No, I'm pretty sure I don't."

Jack looked to the others for an explanation. All of them avoided eye contact, except for Bunnymund who maintained an angered expression. At first, he thought the pooka might've discovered the handful of flowers in the Warren that he'd frozen before going to sleep. But something told him whatever this was about was much more serious than that. North clapped his hands together to break the tense silence, regaining everyone's attention.

"Well, my friend," North turned to Bunnymund, "It seems we are right. You cannot be mad at Jack."

"Mad at me for what?" Jack asked.

"He was sleeping, it was accident," North continued.

"I don't care, it's still his fault!" Bunnymund bit.

"What was?" Jack snapped.

It seemed only Tooth and Sandy were paying attention to Jack, but they offered no answer. It was bad enough that he'd woken up after nearly two weeks of bad dreams and memories. Now he was being accused of something he had no idea about. North and Bunnymund continued arguing whatever had happened and whether or not it was Jack's fault. Jack hopped off the bed and slammed the end of his staff to the ground, sending a fresh coating of ice across the ground and walls along with a chilling flurry of snow.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jack demanded.

"Jack, Bunnymund thinks you froze his Warren on purpose," North sighed.

"And he's this mad over a couple flowers?" he scoffed.

"A coupl— A couple of flowers?!" Bunnymund exclaimed, "Ya sent my entire Warren back to the ice age!"

Jack was about to snap back in self-defense, but Sandy placed a hand on the winter spirit's shoulder. Sandy shook his head, silently telling him nothing he said would put Bunnymund at ease. Toothiana fluttered over to his side, taking Sandy's place.

"You were having bad dreams," she said softly, "And we think because of that…You accidentally froze Bunny's Warren."

"I wouldn't—"

"The little ankle-biter's got too much power to control," Bunnymund stated.

"Hey!" Jack snapped, taking a step towards Bunnymund, "I can 'control' my powers just fine! I had three hundred years to learn!"

"Obviously wasn't enough," Bunnymund growled, repeating Jack's action.

"Please, this is getting us nowhere," North interjected.

The Russian casually placed himself between the two, preventing them from getting any closer to each other. He glanced at Jack, then at Bunnymund, to make sure neither would make a move to get around him. Certain they wouldn't, North relaxed a bit, but kept his position.

"Jack, I am sure you could control powers just fine—"

"Thank you," he huffed.

"Not so fast," North said, "You _could_ control powers just fine. But you know Guardians get power from believers, da? Now that children are starting to believe in you, you are having too much power too fast."

"What!"

"The Warren has been frozen over; along with much of southern hemisphere," North continued, "You are not used to power from children. Is much greater than what you are used to."

"What're you saying?" Jack asked.

Jack could feel his heart pounding against his chest, filling with dread of what North might say. He tried taking deep breaths to calm down, but it only heightened his anxiety.

"I am saying…Now this is not what I am wanting to do," North clarified, "It is not my idea. I said we should just keep you awake and make you learn again."

Bunnymund glared at North while Sandy solemnly motioned for him to get on with it.

"…Perhaps…" North sighed, "Perhaps you should go back to only the few children in Burgess believing in you."

"_What?!_ You _want_ people to forget about me?! You _want_ them to ignore me again?!" Jack yelled.

"No, of course not! Is not my idea, remember?" North said quickly, "And it is only until you are more familiar with power of believing."

North gave him an apologetic look, though Bunnymund looked like he thought Jack deserved this. Both Toothiana and Sandy tried to comfort Jack, but he flinched away from them, giving them a betrayed expression of disbelief. North sighed, sagging his shoulders and took a snow globe out of his heavy coat.

Without so much as a good bye, North broke it against the wall and opened to portal back to Santoff Clausen. He waved for the other to follow him and leave Jack to the boy planned to do now. North waited as the others went through the portal, lingering a second longer as if he wanted to say something to Jack. But no words came to mind, instead he only gave him a sympathetic glance before walking through.

As he watched North disappear, he decided he wasn't going stay there and sulk. Jack made a run for the portal as it began to shrink and leapt through it. He felt it pass over him, sight and sound weren't all the collar manipulated, then he felt his body crumpled against the rocky, frozen wall. Dazed and holding a hand over his face, where he was sure it was now bruised and bleeding, he glanced around the icy room. There was no sign the Guardians were ever there; no little scratches on the ice from Bunnymund's claws. No grains of dream sand from Sandy. No snow in the corners disturbed from Toothiana's wings. No packed snow or cracked ice from North's weight. Yet; Jack saw all these things.

Jack clenched his jaw, pushing aside the pain that flared, and darted out of the room. He was through the tunnel and back outside in less than a minute. Sensing his anger and frustration, the Antarctic winds were all too eager to help him up into the air. He wasn't going to let them do this, they had no right.

xXxXx

All though it was still a nice, fairly warm day in Burgess, Jamie had chosen to stay inside and watch the TV. Not for any cartoons or other shows like most kids; he was fixed on the weather channel. He had been watching it since the sudden harsh winter had started, even more since Toothiana had visited. For a moment, he was relieved when the weatherman said the cold front was retreating quickly. When the real-time weather Doppler was brought on screen, anyone could watch the cold front retreating; it was disappearing almost as quickly as it had come on.

The weatherman said that meteorologists and environmentalists were still investigating the cause of the phenomena, but Jamie knew what it was. He was just relieved that Jack had woken up and put a stop to it.

The boy got up to get a snack from the kitchen and from there he heard something on the TV; something that made his heart skip a beat.

"—and as you can see here on the radar, Antarctic winds are charging straight up the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the water they've touched has frozen over, not frozen as thick as earlier in this bizarre weather pattern, thankfully. But the winds are moving at highly destructive pace, from what I'm being told, they are exceeding hurricane force. The Coast Guard is now scrambling to get ships and boats out of what they believe to be the winds' path—"

Jamie ran back into the living room and saw both the radar image and satellite tracking image displayed on the screen. The winds were racing along a narrow path, headed perfectly north up through the Atlantic.

xXxXx

As Jack approached the equator, the Greats Winds came roaring down and slammed into the Antarctic winds, sending off dozens of whirlwinds and low-class hurricanes. The Antarctic winds dropped Jack without a second thought, much more excited for a fight with the Great Winds. The South wind caught Jack and raced north, taking him away from the fray and leaving its siblings to drive the Antarctic winds back to the frozen continent.

Jack couldn't complain much, the South wind could feel his urgent need to get to Santoff Clausen and flew as fast as it could. With North's workshop in sight, the wind dropped lower and aimed for a large window that let into the main workshop. Jack swung his staff, sending a strong gust ahead of himself and flinging the window open just in time. He flew through the window, bringing in buckets of snow along with the panicking South Wind.

For a moment, everyone in the workshop stared but then dusted the snow off themselves and went about their business. It wasn't the first time Jack had come bursting in like that. He frantically searched the workshop for North, or any of the Guardians really, when he was grabbed from behind.

"Ah, good you are awa—!"

North was cut off by Jack's surprised yelp and sudden writhing, resulting in not only a swift kick in the stomach but also an ice-coated arm and shoulder.

"What is reason for that?" North asked incredulously.

"Hey, Frostbite," Bunnymund called, walking up, "We need to talk."

"No, not again," Jack warned, brandishing his staff at the pooka.

"Put that thing down before ya—"

"What, freeze your Warren?"

"You already did that," Bunnymund seethed.

"I know that," Jack snapped back.

"Oh! So ya did on purpose then, ah?

"Enough!" North ordered.

A nearby yeti helped North break the ice off his arm before placing himself between the two of them. He gave them both a stern look, warning them not to do anything. Confident they understood, he relaxed but kept his position. Jack stared at him in confusion, had this not just happened a little bit ago?

"Clearly something is wrong," North said, "Jack, what is problem?"

"A-are you kidding me?" he asked with a half-hearted laugh, "You know exactly what's wrong!"

"I have good idea, da. But something tells me it is not that idea at this moment," North replied, "Tell us, what is wrong?"

The winter spirit ignored North's question and went over to the glove in the middle of workshop's top floor. Shooing a couple elves on the control board aside, he switched the light settings on the globe from showing all believers in every spirit to show only the ones who believed in him. Just a short while ago, there had been a fair number of twinkly lights. Not nearly as many as Bunnymund, North, Sandy or Tooth, but enough for someone who children only started believing in a couple years ago.

But what he saw was that a majority of lights were out; namely in the southern hemisphere. He was back down to what he had a few months after defeating Pitch.

"Tell us what is wrong and we try to help," North offered.

Jack gritted his teeth, nails digging at the control board as he tried to fight back tears forming in his eyes. They were _actually_ going through with this. North walked up to him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack, please—"

Jack smacked his hand away, freezing his arm again.

"I can't believe you guys would do this!"

"Hey!" Bunnymund shouted, crossing over to him in two strides.

He grabbed the boy up by the neck of his sweater, causing his to drop his staff, and lifted him a couple of feet off the ground. Jack kicked and scratched at Bunnymund's paw, all the while glaring at him through glassy eyes.

"What the bloody hell is your problem, mate?" Bunnymund demanded.

"Put me down!"

"Not until ya calm down and start makin' sense."

Jack continued struggling, but without his staff in his grip, there was little he could do against Bunnymund's grasp. Another minute of futile struggling and then he gave up, though he continued to glare at Bunnymund. As a precaution, Bunnymund gently kicked the staff behind himself before lowering Jack to the ground.

"That's better," Bunnymund said, "Now what— What is that?"

North followed Bunnymund's gaze to Jack's neck, where his sweater had stretched and now sat crooked on him from the pooka's hold; where a portion of glittering black sand was visible.

Before another word could be said, Jack shoved Bunnymund aside and snatched up his staff before darting out of the still open window he'd come in through. The two Guardians stared after him for several minutes, then turned to face each other with the same frightened look.

"Did you see that?" Bunnymund asked.

North nodded grimly.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** not as much of a cliffhanger as last time, but still…I can't stop doing those haha At least you got a slightly longer chapter this time, right? i hope this chapter isn't too confusing, but if it is, message me and i'll clarify.**

**can we get to 95 reviews this time? (the fic is at 82, atm)**


	10. Catalytic Hallucinations

"Well, that's not what I was hoping for," Pitch huffed.

He watched Jack flying through the clouded sky as fast as he could, suddenly desperate to get away from Santoff Clausen. As Jack disappeared over the horizon, heavy snowflakes began to fall and rapidly cover everything in a fresh, thick blanket. Pitch scowled at the turning weather and followed after Jack. Once the boy was in sight again, he kept himself at a distance so as to not alert the winter spirit to his presence.

Pitch was disappointed to see the ice on the Atlantic form by the Antarctic winds had already been broken up and melted. He could also see off in the distance, much of the snow and ice that had marched up to the equator was now melting as well. Things were not going as planned at all now.

Jack finally landed somewhere on the coast of Rio Grande do Sul. There was still a fair amount of snow, no more than the country usually received, along with a few patches of ice floating along the shore. Pitch hid himself amongst the shadows of the tree line and watched Jack with mild curiosity. For a few minutes, Jack just stood there, idly kicking at the sand and looking out to ocean. Occasionally, he would freeze a wave that washed in too close to him, but that was about it.

Pitch motioned at the shadows of the tree line, bringing them to life in the form of two Nightmares. The dark horses danced around anxiously behind him, waiting for his command.

"Don't kill him, but do make it a good show," he grinned.

xXxXx

Both Sandy and Toothiana had been taking turns spending time with Jamie and the other children of Burgess, assuring them that nothing was wrong Jack. For a short while, it seemed like nothing they said was getting through to them. At least, until earlier in the day when the news channels reported the massive blizzard was retreating. Both the Guardians had given the children playful 'I told you so' looks and taunts, but deep down they were both as relieved as the children.

As Sandy was putting the town down for sleep, the flicker of a TV in a nearby window caught his attention. Out of curiosity for what humans were naming as the cause for the blizzard, the Guardian drifted over to the window and hesitantly decided to let himself in. It really wasn't a surprise when the anchormen said scientists were arguing the points of global warming and cooling, or even the possible return of the ice age. Sandy giggled silently and turned to leave, when the news was suddenly interrupted by some breaking news. He glanced over his shoulder to see the TV displayed a zoomed-in aerial view of an ice storm.

A very focused and localized ice storm.

Of course, the footage wouldn't show what was really happening. But Sandy knew it was Jack and he was sure the boy was now awake. Without another moment's hesitation, Sandy left the house and made his way to the North Pole. On his way there, he saw the Aurora cast out over the night and doubled his speed.

When he arrived, the others were already there waiting for him. North skipped over his usual cheery greeting and went straight to the point.

"Sandy, do you know of way to, uh…" North paused thinking of how to phrase his question, "…To 'control' dreams?"

Sandy nodded.

"While person is awake?"

Sandy looked at him suspicious before shaking his head with a question mark appearing above him

"We're pretty sure Pitch has done something to Jack to control him, or influence him at least," Bunnymund said, "Jack's got a nightmare sand collar thing on 'im."

An cloud of formless sand floated above Sandy's head before twisting into a dog collar hooked to a leash that tugged it around.

"Yeah, it's definitely nightmare sand, mate," Bunnymund said.

Sandy frowned and crossed his arms in thought for minute before remembering why he'd come to the North Pole, even before the Aurora called for him. He tried to explain the ice storm to the Guardians, but his images were flickering too fast for any of them to make sense out of it. Eventually, he gave up and just motioned for them to follow him, taking off without making sure that they were following.

Using a snow globe would have been easy were it not for the fact Sandy couldn't speak and that the other Guardians would never understand the name of country he was trying to explain. The others had no choice but to fly to follow him, even Bunnymund. However, the pooka had refused to get into the sleigh after last time and instead went with Toothiana and the help of a considerable amount of mini-fairies.

The mini-fairies couldn't have been more relieved to reach South America after carrying the large rabbit and unceremoniously dropped him on the hard ground. Toothiana fluttered to his side to check on him as North's now repaired sleigh landed behind them. Sandy tugged on Toothiana's arm and pointed to trail of frozen hoof prints. It started as two tracks leading from the tree line, but clearly more Nightmares had joined in at some point.

Most of the ground was frozen, trapping beach sand and nightmare sand beneath ice. All the water along the coast had been frozen solid as well. Massive spears of ice stuck out in random spots and aimed in all directions. Several icicles had buried themselves into the ground, surrounding rocks and trees. Scattered amongst all the ice and frost were small patches of dead nightmare sand, slowly being covered by the falling snow.

Bunnymund saw Jack leaning against a rock several yards ahead, looking thoroughly beat and worn to hell. The Guardians started towards Jack, but the South Wind swooped down at them with a strong yet silent force. North batted the wind away, trying to tell it to move rather than actually trying to force it to leave. The wind gusted again as they continued towards Jack, but they ignored its warning. The wind hovered for a moment before rushing off back to the sky.

The ground crack beneath their weight, alerting Jack to their presence. He flinched and looked up, breathing heavily; though his breath remained invisible in the chilled air.

"Great…" he sighed, a sarcastic smirk crossing his face, "There's more of them…"

"More of what, Jack?" Toothiana asked.

"I don't think he sees _us_," Bunnymund murmured.

"Then what does he see?" Toothiana asked.

Bunnymund looked at the hoof prints on the ground, then to all the ice.

"…I think he sees Nightmares…This ain't gonna be good."

Jack lazily pushed himself off the rock, shouldering his staff and waving his free arm the way he did when he taunted Bunnymund. The cold air hung thick with tension, giving off the same feeling as in Antarctica. Jack could see only threats right now and would probably react even more harshly than the Antarctic winds had. North, Bunnymund and Toothiana looked to Sandy for any kind of answer. Sandy returned with a helpless look and a shrug before pointing to his neck, then to Jack, and making the motion of breaking something.

It was a blatant, poor plan, but it was all he could offer them. He'd never had to deal with someone actually living a dream. Or nightmare, as the case was. But Sandy hoped, with Jack being as worn out as he already was, that subduing him long enough to break the collar would be no problem.

"Well?" Jack gave an exhausted grin, "B-bring it on then."

"Right then. If Frostbite wants a fight," Bunnymund huffed, grabbing his boomerangs, "Then the little bugger's gonna get one."

"No, Bunny wait," Toothiana pleaded, "I'm sure there's another way."

The Fairy Queen flew over to Jack, but the second she moved, Jack tensed and swung his staff. A blast of freeze air surrounded her and dropped her to the ground, wings coated in thin sheets of ice.

"It ain't gonna work, Tooth," Bunnymund stated.

He marched passed where she sat heartbroken on the ground, breaking into a full run and throwing his boomerangs. North quickly followed suit; he wasn't going to let this be a repeat of their loss against Pitch in Antarctica.

Jack froze the air around himself, effectively creating an ice shield out of nothing. The boomerangs crashed into and got stuck in the ice. Jack then used the makeshift shield to bash Bunnymund aside as North came up after him. Jack dropped low, swinging his staff and catching it around North's foot. He jerked it back and took North's feet out from under him. Bunnymund scrambled back up and charged at Jack again as the winter spirit as icicles hung in the air, aimed at North.

He managed to catch Jack off guard, knocking him to the ground and causing him to send the icicles flying in every direction. Two speared into North's shoulder, one grazing Sandy and Tooth, and two more slicing through Bunnymund's fur.

Bunnymund struggled to pin Jack down while North pushed himself back to his feet, ignoring the icy pain in his shoulder. He shouted for Bunnymund to move over; he would be better for holding the fighting spirit. North wrestled Jack to the ground, holding his arms behind his back and face to the ground. Then Bunnymund reached for his staff and as soon as he touched it, Jack nearly had a panic attack.

Jack screamed in panic and fear, suddenly ripping himself from North's grasp and bolting back from the two. They heard the howling of the winds just before they blasted the Guardians back and forced them to the ground while they were blinded by a vicious flurry of snow.

What felt like an eternity lasted no more than a minute in reality. Silence settled over the beach, now thoroughly coated in at least two feet of snow. Bunnymund sat up, slightly dazed and spitting snow and sand from his mouth. He searched around for Jack, but the boy was already long gone. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or bad thing, because they were clearly not ready to fight with the spirit they'd come to love.

North dusted off his coat and hat as stood beside Bunnymund.

"I think you are right, my friend," he sighed, "This will not be easy."

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** okay, first: I wasn't holding out for a reviews (obvious by the fact I still don't have 95, atm). I just fell way behind in my online classes…like waaaaaay behind…**

**second! I have no idea how to write good fight scenes, so hopefully this doesn't suck.**

**third, maybe 105 reviews please? I know you guys love the story, so it shouldn't hard for a couple people to actually say so…**


	11. Omen

North sat in his personal workshop, practically sulking and feeling helpless as the same time. He wanted nothing more than to go out and look for Jack again, but the yetis wouldn't allow it. They'd all agreed that the two icicles that had impaled his shoulder had done too much damage for him to do anything strenuous just yet. To make sure their Russian boss didn't sneak out, they locked up the snow globe room and kept a guard at each possible entrance. They even locked the sleigh up and returned the reindeer to their stables, which were also locked and guarded. It obviously wouldn't be permanent and they equally concerned for Jack, but they feared North might cause irreversible damage to his shoulder if he went out.

Bunnymund was also under close watch, as he couldn't return to his Warrens. Toothiana had tried to comfort him about the Warrens by saying now that Jack was awake, the massive blizzard was retreating and the Warrens would start to thaw out. However, Bunnymund would again remind her that if the Warrens did thaw, they would be dead underneath. And that having Jack awake now might present more of a problem than before.

Toothiana and Sandy weren't confined Santoff Clausen because they'd only been grazed and had tasks required of them nightly. While Toothiana had chosen to stay behind, Sandy had gone out in search for Jack. That made the others feel a little better and it put himself at ease. More so than staying in one place would do.

It was hard to keep track of Jack; he wasn't following any kind of pattern. Because of that, Sandy always arrived just moments after the winter spirit had fled. All the ice and snow was so fresh that gentle clouds of frost still rolled off of them. Every place Jack had been to, and left from, looked like the beach they'd caught him at. They were all frozen warzones, grounds for every fight between Jack and whatever nightmarish creatures Pitch was sending after him.

As the Great Winds pushed him in the general direction Jack had gone off to, Sandy couldn't help but wonder what the Nightmare King was up to. Controlling Jack could make sense. Attacking him could also make sense. But putting both plans together? Sandy had a hard time understanding that. The only thing he could think of was that Pitch was trying to drive Jack insane, but Sandy didn't know why Pitch would want that. Being the oldest of the Guardians, Sandy had been around long enough to know that a deranged spirit was dangerous for everyone. When the world was young, he'd seen other elemental and seasonal spirits lose their minds. For the most part, it had been fire and water spirits who'd gone insane during the shaping of the world. All though they were extremely dangerous, there had been enough of them at that time to balance each other out.

But Jack was the only one now. There weren't any others to balance him. He would have free range of the world if he wanted. And if the Guardians' earlier encounter was any indication, they wouldn't be able to do anything about it.

Sandy swallowed thickly and urged his biplane to fly faster in the directions the Winds led him.

xXxXx

Toothiana sat somberly up in the rafters of Santoff Clausen, having given up on trying to cheer up North and Bunnymund. She thought about going back to her palace, but couldn't bring herself to leave. She let out a downcast sigh, watching the yetis order the elves around or shooing them off into other rooms so they could do their job. Then she heard the distinctive chirping of her mini-fairies and perked up.

Nearly a dozen of them came flying through the workshop, hardly taking care to avoid the yetis, and flew straight up to her.

"Girls, girls! Calm down," Toothiana hushed, "What's wrong?"

Baby Tooth gave several panicked chirps looking between Toothiana and the object the other fairies carried. Toothiana hadn't noticed they were holding something until now, but when she saw it, her heart skipped a beat. The mini-fairies held a golden capsule, with a certain brown-haired trickster's face on it. Toothiana tentatively reached out for it and the fairies gave it to her with worried expressions.

"Baby Tooth, what…."

She trailed off as she touched the top of the capsule. The golden tube shuttered and its lid disappeared into glimmering diamonds before revealing the teeth inside. In any other situation, she might have thought the fairies were trying to play a trick on her as Jack had done once before. Once. He'd learned very quickly it was a horrible idea to switch the pictures on the ends of capsules.

Toothiana let out a choked sob, starring at its contents. Inside it, rather than the perfect white teeth Jack had had growing up, there sat dulled and graying teeth. A few of them even looked as if they'd suddenly contracted a cavity and were slowly beginning to decay.

She felt herself trembling as she continued to stare at them. She'd never seen this happen, at least, not with teeth that had been so perfect for so long. Sure, maybe a recently lost tooth with a cavity might continue to decay a little while longer, but it would stop within a month. But Jack's teeth had been well taken care of and maintained for over the three hundred years they'd been in her care. Toothiana quickly retouched the capsule to bring its lid back into existence and shot off from her perch to find North, wherever he may have wandered to.

She zipped through the workshop, asking yetis and elves if they knew where North was. If they didn't, which was the case for most of them, she darted off before they could even finish their sentence. Eventually, she caught him sneaking his was to the stables and flew up behind him.

"North!"

"What! I was only taking walk, I was not— Oh, it is you, Tooth," North sighed.

"North, something's wrong with Jack," she panicked.

"Yes, we know," he groaned, "But yetis will not let me leave."

"I'll help you."

"…What? You would break orders for something?" North asked, "What is problem now?"

Toothiana held the capsule out to him. He gave her a suspicious look before taking and touching its lid off. At first, he was unimpressed by the set of lack luster teeth. Toothiana scowled and gently tilted it, careful not to dump the teeth out. Seeing the picture of who they belonged to, the situation then dawned on him.

"Forget what yetis say, I am boss-man and I say we are leaving," he stated, handing the capsule back to her, "Come, we get Bunny and come up with escape plan."

North turned away from the stables and marched back into Santoff Clausen. Toothiana followed closely, casting fearful glances at the still open capsule in her hands.

xXxXx

"Kids, you should really go out and do something other than sit in front of the TV all day…" Jamie's mother sighed.

"We will later," Jamie replied, without tearing his gaze from the screen.

"You'd better," she warned, "I'm going out to the store and when I come back, you all better be outside."

The other children's parents had thought the same thing and sent them out to get fresh air. But they'd all managed to wind up at Jamie's house and back in front of the TV. After Jamie had talked to Toothiana nearly a week ago, they'd relaxed a bit, comforted by the Fairy Queen's words and the fact that the blizzard was retreating.

But then one of them caught a news bit indicating the harsh ice storms striking down in random places and told the others. Then they were all back to worrying and panicking about the spirit. To make things worse, none of the Guardians were answering any of their tries to summon them. Each reported storm lasted only a few minutes, but was always more intense than the previous.

While many people had fled the southern hemisphere if they could, a majority of them had remained feeling that they could brave the cold weather. But this new string of bad weather was striking a new fear in them. News crews were interviewing people whose home towns had already been struck by what the children knew to be Jack's unwarranted attack. Without being able to predict any kind of pattern, people were in constant paranoia their towns would be next.

Jamie and the others were less concerned with what the people had to say than with the footage that showed on the TV. Heavy and lethal looking spears of ice pierced into buildings, stalagmites erupted from the ground, and banks of snow piled higher than semi-trucks in some places.

"Maybe you should try kidnapping a fairy again…" Pippa suggested quietly.

o0o0o

_**Author:**_** I'm so sorry I didn't update sooner, I really appreciate all the reviews. I just got a bit caught up in reading a web comic and didn't realize that the reviews had passed the number I asked for. so, as an apology, I won't ask for a certain number this time.**


	12. Grounded

At first, Jack had been more than happy to fight with the nightmares. It gave him the chance to let out the anger and frustration he felt at being stripped of his Guardian title. But with the nonstop fighting going on nearly three days now, he was thoroughly exhausted and wanted nothing more than to collapse in a snow bank and go back to sleep for the reason of the season. However, the Nightmares weren't about to let that happen; even as Jack fled as fast as he could, the Nightmares would quickly catch up to him.

This time, the two Nightmares in pursuit of him fell back and self-imploded. Though, due to the nightmare collar, Jack saw them being struck down by something. The nightmare sand reformed into a replica of Sandy, who he saw as responsible for striking down the dark horses. For a second, Jack was relieved to see the Sandman. But when the replica turned its attention to him, he was reminded that Sandy was no longer on his side.

A glittering whip of nightmare sand cracked through the air and struck Jack across his back, sending him spiraling down to the ground. Jack hit the ground with the resonating sound of cracking ice. He stumbled to his feet, gasping for breath, but stumbled and collapsed back onto the frozen ground. The replica hung in the air for a few moments, before slowly descending to the ground.

Still trying to regain his breath, he forced himself to his hands and knees. His vision had been slightly jarred from impact, making it that much harder to see where he'd landed. Once everything came back into focus, he immediately knew where he was; the Warrens.

xXxXx

Toothiana had already figured out that the cause of decay in Jack's childhood teeth was corruption of his memory. It made sense to her; a cavity infecting a tooth and spreading to others was like a corrupted memory influencing the rest. But still, she sought to ask several yetis what they thought the cause was. It was a distraction North had come up with. It wasn't much of one, but it would be enough to keep the smartest yetis occupied while he and Bunnymund snuck back outside to the reindeer stables. Only one yeti was guarding them now, but had fallen asleep on the job; North made a mental note to reprimand the yeti later.

The two crept past the sleeping yeti and up to the first stall. Dasher perked his ears up and looked at them curiously before stamping his hoof in slight annoyance. The noise caught the attention of Dancer, in the stall beside him, who began to prance around and knock against the walls of his stall.

"North, do somethin'!" Bunnymund whispered.

North scowled at him and ran up to Dancer's stall, throwing open the gate and entering, then catching the reindeer by his head. North held Dancer's head firmly in his hands and stared him right in the eyes. Immediately, Dancer's excitement dissipated and he calmed down. A few other reindeer who had heard watched with curiosity and growing excitement, though they kept the latter well hidden. North let go of Dancer and led him out of the stall, motioning for Bunnymund to help get the other reindeer out.

Once all eight were out of their stalls, they led them out of the stables and towards the hangar that housed the sleigh. All the way there, North and Bunnymund silently cursed the metal shoes on the reindeers hooves making such loud noises against the ground. Especially once they reached the hanger where the ground turned to icy metal.

"Why d'ya even have shoes on 'em?" Bunnymund snapped, "They fly half the time!"

"They did not always fly, my friend," North smiled, "For many years, they pulled old sleigh across land."

"What?"

"Old sleigh, as Jack would say, was rickety. No good for flying. So, I build this sleigh!" North grinned, throwing open the hangar doors.

The sleigh Bunnymund had come to know sat gleaming and freshly shined in hangar. And most importantly, it had been fully repaired. The reindeer shook free of North and Bunnymund, habitually trotting over to the sleigh and taking their positions. North strode over and began hooking up their harnesses; it was a task now for the yetis, but he was glad to be doing it himself again. It reminded him of his younger days.

"You get Tooth, sleigh will be ready by the time you come back," North instructed.

Bunnymund nodded and bounded off back to Santoff Clausen. He found Toothiana and the yetis in the library going through dozens of books in search of a cause for the sudden tooth decay. Bunnymund waved to get her attention, then motioned for her to follow. As he turned back for the hangar, he faintly heard Toothiana excusing herself because her mini fairies needed her. The yetis mumbled in acknowledgment, hardly giving it a second thought.

"Well, that was easy…" Toothiana commented once they were outside.

"Don't jinx it, eh?"

North waited in the sleigh as the reindeer danced and kicked in anticipation; they were rarely ever patient. Toothiana fluttered down into the seat behind North while Bunnymund reluctantly climbed in beside her. He knew now wasn't the time for complaining about his hate of flying. With that small victory, North took up the reins and snapped them with a yell. The reindeer bayed and stormed off down the track.

"We go straight to Jack, agreed?" North hollered over the rushing air.

"Agreed!" Toothiana replied.

Bunnymund gave a meek nod.

xXxXx

Jack had barely enough strength left to fight and instead took to hiding and taking cheap shots at the replica. Despite numerous ambushes, and because of Pitch's orders, it continued to search the wasted Warrens for the winter spirit. It moved cautiously beneath trees, looking up in their branches for Jack, and blasted aside snow banks hoping to oust him. Wherever Jack was hiding now was far too good of a hiding place for the replica to find.

It silently screamed in frustration and lashed out at a nearby stalagmite and launching it into the air. The replica watched it, still fuming, and saw something in the sky. The real Sandy was barreling towards the Warrens and closely followed the familiar sleigh. The replica cursed and dissolved in on itself, slithering into the shadows that clung to the tunnel entrances of the Warrens.

"Ah, great. As if Frostbite ain't already ruined my Warrens," Bunnymund grumbled.

"Not now, Bunny," North replied as he landed the sleigh beside Sandy's biplane, "Sandy, where is Jack?"

Sandy shrugged and created a series of images to indicate he'd only seen the nightmare sand here looking for him. The Guardians glanced around the Warrens, seeing there had been a short fight that had apparently turned one-sided. North frowned and pulled a snow globe out of his heavy coat.

"Are you sure he's here?" Toothiana asked.

"Globe says Jack is here…" North trailed off, "But does not say where here."

"Ankle-biter's probably holed up in my house," Bunnymund growled.

Bunnymund headed off in the direction of his home, followed by the other Guardians. His home was a small, stony cottage built into the side of a low hill; the sort of humble home Toothiana adored. Bunnymund stopped just short of the door, ear perked up and eyes narrowed. He moved carefully over the window and peered inside, trying to keep most of himself out of view. He couldn't see anything unusual inside, just some snow and ice that had gotten in through cracks and under the door. Bunnymund grimaced and reached for the door, keeping to the side of it as he gently pushed it open.

Nothing happened.

He opened the door wider and took a cautious step inside with the other right behind him. They looked for Jack in any place he could be hiding; under furniture, in cabinets or closets, even just behind doors.

"Maybe he's somewhere else….?" Toothiana suggested.

Bunnymund shook his head, he knew Jack was there somewhere. There was only one place in the house left that they hadn't checked. Bunnymund went into the next room and noticed the rug on the floor had been moved. He didn't see it the first time they checked the room because he had no idea Jack knew what was under it. Bunnymund kicked the rug aside, revealing an old wooden door in the floor; its lock broken off. He stood on the side of the door's hinge, intending to use it as a sort of shield just in case.

"You little rat," Bunnymund growled as he ripped it open, "Get outta my burrow!"

A massive stalagmite of ice erupted out of the burrow, spearing through the space Bunnymund would have been if he'd opened it normally. The ice shattered, throwing razor sharp fragments in all directions. Bunnymund hid behind the door while the others quickly took cover behind whatever was closest to them. Then a blur of blue and white shot out of the burrow and through the house.

Sandy huffed and cracked a rope after Jack, catching him around the ankle and slamming him to the ground just outside the front door. Jack bristled and swung his staff, severing the rope with a blade of ice, and scrambled back to his feet.

"Oh, no ya don't!" Bunnymund barked.

He bounded through the house as quickly as he would through his tunnels and pounced on Jack, pinning him back to the ground. Jack gritted his teeth, glaring at the pooka, and rapidly dropped his own body temperature to well below freezing. He gave a spiteful grin as Bunnymund's eyes widened in pain and he reeled back, clutching his paws to his chest. Jack barely had time to get up again before he was struck in the side of his face by ball of golden dream sand. The boy staggered a few feet before collapsing into the snow.

"Finally…" North sighed, "Good job, Sandy."

Sandy smiled as the Russian walked over to the now sleeping Jack. At the same time, the nightmare sand of the replica slithered alongside him, hidden beneath of layer of snow. As North bent over to scoop Jack up, the nightmare sand darted out of the snow and infected the dream sand floating over Jack's head. The dream sand shuddered and allowed the infection to devour it. Instantly, Jack's eyes snapped open in fear of whatever nightmare the sand caused and swung at North.

The hook of his staff caught North across the face and spun him around. Jack followed it up with a surge of violent wind that sent North flying into the other Guardians and into the side of Bunnymund's house. The stones fractured but refused to give way, making the impact that much more painful. To add insult to injury, several feet of snow fell from the roof and buried them.

Bunnymund thrashed around until he was free of the snow, still furious that Jack had gone into his very private burrow. He looked around the Warrens, breathing heavily, but saw no sign of Jack. The boy was gone again.

"North! We need a new plan, 'cause clearly this one ain't workin'!"

"I know…" North groaned, pulling himself out of the snow mound.

Sandy offered up the image of an aged old man whom they all knew.

"Yes, we will try same plan we used with Old Man Winter…but hopefully with different outcome."

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** oh shit, do I sense a back story here? …probably not, just allusions. anyway, name of the chapter….yeah, because of how many times I mentioned the ground…**

**125 review, please?**


	13. Crisis

Although many people still 'believed' in Old Man Winter, he had died centuries ago. In fact, it was shortly before Jack was born that Old Man Winter passed. He didn't die from old age, injuries, or any kind of poison. At best, it could described as suicide. He'd been attempting to bring about yet another ice age, which he'd been out of his mind to try because humanity had begun to flourish after the last one. Once the Guardians heard of this, they tried to talk some sense into the old winter spirit. But he wouldn't listen and continued on his icy march across the Earth.

The Guardians wouldn't stand for it and waged war against Old Man Winter. That was when they'd learn the power of a winter spirit and perhaps why they were leery of Jack. It was also a lesson in what could happen if a spirit went rogue, though Sandy had experienced that before. The Guardians didn't have the strength, nor the will, to kill Old Man Winter and agreed that he should be kept in a sort of solitary confinement until he came back to his right mind. Even the Man in the Moon agreed on this.

The Guardians drew Old Man Winter to Blue Ridge Mountains and, with Manny's help, imprisoned him within there, in a mountain that would later be known as Cold Mountain. They held him there for years until they believed that the spirit had calmed down. When they'd gone to check on him, they found nothing but an ice statue of him, surrounded by curls of ice accentuated by icicles. The sight had been both beautiful and painful at the same time, as Manny explained Old Man Winter had given up and allowed both his mind and body to wither.

But imprisonment had been the only way to stop another ice age. This time they resolved that if they were able to hold Jack, they would keep a much closer eye on the boy. They might not have liked Old Man Winter, but that hadn't eased the pain of his passing. If the same thing were to happen to Jack, they might come undone themselves.

"Maybe we don't have to be as harsh," Toothiana spoke up, "I mean, we could just take his staff away and then he can't do anything, right?"

"Yeah, but you know he'd fight tooth an' nail to keep it," Bunnymund replied.

Toothiana's gaze fell to the floor, knowing Bunnymund was right.

"But if we have chance to do that instead, we will," North stated.

He'd said that not only to comfort Toothiana, but also himself. He didn't like the idea and knew it was likely their only choice, but Jack and his playful nature had grown on him.

xXxXx

In Jack's panic, the massive blizzard began to recommence and was quickly recovering its lost ground. He paid it no mind as he rushed northward to Burgess. Seeing the Guardians again reminded him that they were erasing the memories of him in the minds of children and there were a certain few who were admittedly far more precious to him than the rest. A torrent of wind and snow raged behind him as he flew, kicking up and flinging every loose object he passed.

Even as he slowed down upon reaching Burgess, the violent wind surged past him and continued on to the north. Jack darted for the closest of the six children's homes; Cupcake. He zipped up to her window, hoping she would just be in her room and that he wouldn't have to search for her. Thankfully, she was. She sat in her room, idly playing with several of her unicorns and completely oblivious to Jack. He didn't expect her to notice right away, but was still a little hurt by it. He tapped on her window with his staff to get her attention, sending frost audibly crackling across the glass. She looked up in confusion at the strange noise, but shrugged thinking it was nothing.

That was all the more Jack needed. Cupcake didn't believe in him. He scowled angrily before taking off to the next house.

xXxXx

"Jamie, phone's for you," his mother called again.

She made no attempt to hide her annoyance. This was the fifth time one of Jamie's friends had called and asked for him. She didn't mind them calling the house, but she did mind that the phone kept ringing.

Jamie ran down, took the phone from his mother and then ran back up to his room. He shut the door behind himself before answering the phone.

"Monty?" Jamie guessed.

"How did you know it was me?" Monty asked.

"Everyone else is calling me…is it something about Jack?"

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with him but he's freaking out! It's like _he _can't see _us_."

"What? He doesn't have to believe in us to see us," Jamie said.

Hearing himself say that actually hurt a bit.

"I don't know," Monty repeated, "Claude and Caleb said he kept hitting their window and icy it over like he was trying to get their attention—"

"But he just got mad and flew away?"

"Yeah."

"Cupcake said the same thing…"

"You gotta do something, Jamie. Jacks kinda starting to scare me."

"Don't say that!" Jamie blurted, then added, "I'll figure something out."

Jamie said goodbye to Monty and tossed the phone aside. He went to the window and waited. Jack had been to everyone's house except his and he knew it would only be a minute or two before the winter spirit showed up. But it had scarcely been more than a few seconds before Jack was at his window, racking at it with his staff.

"Jack, calm down! Jeez," Jamie called.

He went to open the now ice-coated window to let Jack in. But before he could touch, Jack struck the window one more time, breaking the frozen lock and throwing the window wide open. Jamie stumbled back and fell to the floor with pieces of the lock. Before, the quick coating of ice had distorted Jack's image, but now Jamie could clearly see the deep-set panic and fear all over his face.

"Jamie, please tell me you can see me…!" Jack rushed into his room.

"Of course I can, why—"

"C'mon, at least say something!"

From the look in Jack's eyes and his frantic breathing, not to mention the snow that had begun falling in his room, Jamie could tell he was on the verge of breakdown. Jamie had no idea what to do, every instinct he had, he was sure the other children had already tried.

"Anything!" Jack begged.

It was like he was looking right through Jamie, almost as if there were someone else in the room with him. Jamie threw a glance over his shoulder, making sure his mother hadn't come in after hearing the window lock break. Seeing she hadn't, he turned looked at Jack who now filled with despair. The winter spirit tried to put on a brave face as he drifted away from Jamie, though he was failing miserably at it.

"No, Jack, wait!" Jamie said, scrambling to his feet.

Jack turned away sharply and bolted out of the window with enough force to swing the window panes the opposite way and smash them against the house. The glass shattered and rained down into the yard, causing Abby to start barking. Jamie ran over to the window sill and looked down into the yard. Among all the shards, he could see that Abby was alright and thankfully, Sophie hadn't been outside. Jamie breathed a sigh of relief and turned his attention towards the rapidly retreating form of the winter spirit.

"Jamie, are you alright?" his mother panicked.

He didn't answer her. He continued to stare at Jack until a rainbow lined portal opened up near him and reindeer came storming out.

xXxXx

The reindeer and sleigh came roaring out of the portal so quickly that the collar didn't have enough time to allow Jack to see the sudden obstacle. He was practically trampled by the reindeer before slamming head first into the front of the sleigh.

"Oh, Jack!" Toothiana cried.

He slipped from the sleigh, dazed, and free fell several dozen yards before regaining his senses and righting himself.

"What the hell?" Jack snapped indignantly.

He hung in the air as he rubbed his head, wincing in pain. He pulled his hand back and looked at it, only to see small smears of dark red blood. Even more confused, he stared up to about where'd he collided with what he thought was nothing. The collar shifted its control to allow Jack to be completely aware of what was going on now. Pitch, watching from distant shadows, grinned in anticipation.

"Jack!" North called.

Jack spotted the sleigh circling back around towards him.

"You stay away from me!" Jack roared.

"I am sorry, it was accident," North apologized, drawing closer, "We did not see you."

If North had been aware of what Jack thought had just happened, he wouldn't have chosen to phrase that differently. A myriad of emotions raced through Jack, ending on sheer rage. Having no words, Jack bristled and swung his staff, sending a massive blade of ice whirling through the air. North snapped the reigns and the reindeer pulled the Guardians out of its way. Unfortunately, not all of the sleigh was clear. The blade slashed through the wood like it was nothing and sheared off the top portion of the back seats. The wood fell and splintered on the ground while the blade continued to soar out of sight.

"Crikey, Frostbite! W-what is your problem?!" Bunnymund shouting, daring himself to look up from the sleigh's floorboards.

"_You are!_" Jack snapped, "_All_ of you are!"

Heavy, gray clouds began to roll in and block out the summer sun as the wind picked up around them. One burst of wind swept up from beneath the sleigh and nearly toppled it. The reindeer bucked and pranced around anxiously until North could get them back under control. Jack hardly gave him any time before flinging another blade of ice. The reindeer saw it this time and jerked ahead without any prompting from North. Luckily for them, this one missed completely. But the reindeer remained anxious and inadvertently rocked the sleigh around.

"Jack, please! Calm down!" Toothiana begged.

"Why should I?" he seethed.

She fluttered out of the sleigh to get away from its unsettling motions and cast an uneasy glance around as snow started falling heavily.

"It's not what you think, Jack. Something's wrong with you…!"

Toothiana gasped, instantly regretting her words.

"Wrong with _me_?!" Jack yelped.

Toothiana narrowly avoided a wave of icy needles that buried themselves into the side and bottom of North's sleigh.

"T-that's not what I meant!" she apologized.

Jack was in her face in a heartbeat.

"Then what did you mean?" he demanded.

Toothiana swallowed thickly, eyes wide with fear. Without thinking, her arm shot out to take his staff away from him. Jack pulled back and swung angrily. A golden rope wrapped his wrist and jerked him far off balance. He looked up to see Sandy shaking his finger at him while mouthing 'no, no, no". Jack's lip twitched in anger; ice shot up the rope at a blistering pace. Sandy quickly detached and threw the rope away from himself just before the ice reached his hand. The rope cracked and shattered, leaving Jack free once again.

"Just talk to us," Toothiana begged.

"No! I'm done with you guys!" Jack bit.

"Tooth, is no use," North said sadly, "We must go with plan B."

Toothiana closed her eyes, fighting back tears, and nodded submissively. Bunnymund, hurt by the sight, pushed himself up from the sleigh's floor and glared right back at Jack.

"Nah, mate, I say we give A one more try," he said evenly.

"Guardian of Hope…it suits you," North smiled.

He snapped the reigns and the reindeer brought the sleigh around, charging right towards Jack. He darted out of the way this time, flashing a smirk at them as the reindeer passed me. But as the sleigh came near, Bunnymund raised his boomerang and cracked it into Jack's shoulder, forcing him to let go of the staff. A short howl of pain turned to fear as the winter spirit plummeted towards the ground. An unwelcome sense of déjà vu washed over him as he flailed, trying to get ahold of the staff just out of his reach.

Jack caught hold of it at the last second, stopping just above the trees of the forest surrounding Burgess. With a cry of fury, he shot back up through the air, blasting the trees back and breaking several branches with the burst of wind. Jack aimed straight for the sleigh and purposefully caught the runner on the hook of his staff, dragging the side of the sleigh up with him and effectively flipping it over. The reigns tying the reindeer to the sleigh twisted and tightened, sending the animals into a tangled mess as Bunnymund and North were thrown from the sleigh.

Sandy caught the two flightless Guardians on a cloud of dream sand before they fell far. The reindeer, unable to straighten out the mess they were in, spiraled down along with the sleigh until a puff of snow arose from the ground where they'd crashed.

"Jack, you have gone too far this time!" North yelled.

"Seriously?" Jack laughed, almost hysterically, "What're you gonna do now? You've already taken everything away from me!"

North looked to Sandy, who nodded in response and manipulated the sand to form a path leading to Jack. North ran down the sand as it created its path, drawing his swords and swinging for Jack. More specifically, for Jack's staff. But if there was one thing the boy was good at, aside from his snow-bringing job, it was evading things. He danced away from North like he'd done it a hundred times. In a one on one fight, it was nearly impossible to land a strike on him. But this wasn't a one on one fight.

Sandy created a path for Bunnymund as well and opened up a broader platform for both him and North to stand on as they teamed against Jack. Jack now struggled to avoid the two of them and hit back. Bunnymund dropped an egg grenade on the sand, blinding both Jack and North with its colorful smoke. He hadn't been to blind North, but he accomplished what he planned. He brought down one boomerang at Jack, who held up his staff and blocked it.

With his free hand, Jack tried to wave away smoke, which was exactly what Bunnymund hoped he'd do. Bunnymund brought the second boomerang up from below and, using the other leverage, twisted the staff out of Jack's hand. The wooden weapon flipped out clear of the smoke.

"Tooth!" Bunnymund shouted.

Toothiana snapped out of her heartbroken trance and saw the weapon as it began to arc downwards. She zipped over to it and snatched up the old weapon, holding it close to her body in relief; relief that it looked like things would not end the same as they had with Old Man Winter.

"Now, Jack," North coughed, "I—"

North and Bunnymund stared in horror as the colorful smoke dissipated. The sand they'd been on had expanded well enough for all of them to stand on, and Bunnymund had expected to see a sulking Jack on his knees. Instead, he only saw the sand.

Both Guardians raced to the edge of the sand and searched down for Jack. They saw him, paralyzed with fear, falling through the air.

"Sandy!" Toothiana screamed.

The Sandman man tried to catch the boy, but every cloud and tendril of sand missed by less than a tenth of second. He became more desperate to catch Jack and, as a result, became less accurate. Toothiana made a vain attempt to chase after him, pushing herself to fly as fast as she could. She let the staff go so she could reach out for him; the weapon was now the least of their worries. Sandy, still trying to stop Jack's free fall, accidently caught Toothiana and brought a halt to her pursuit.

"_NO!_" she cried, reaching out for him once more.

Chilled water and chunks of ice flew up at Toothiana as Jack fell through the ice that had formed over the lake. Toothiana, as well as the others, stared wide-eyed and in shock at the dark hole in the ice; the sickening sound of ice continued to resonate throughout the forest.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** look at the size of this chapter. but ooooh shit, this is probably the worst place to stop. (oh my god, it's actually hailing outside right now, really hard. like a certain someone is mad at me.)**

**so, um…135 reviews, please? **


	14. In Memoria

_**Author's Challenge:**_** Listen to "Hanging On" by Ellie Goulding until you reach the **_xXxXx_

o0o0o0o0o

Toothiana could feel the tears streaming down her face and her breathing accelerate to an unhealthy pace as she watched the struggling dark figure in the water grow smaller and stiller. As the resonating sound of the ice died down, another sound took its place; the sound of the wooden staff splashing into the water. The old, lightweight weapon bobbed back to the surface for a moment before becoming water-logged unnaturally fast and sinking down after Jack.

Toothiana scrambled off the dream sand that had accidentally caught her and dove for the water, stopping just above the freezing surface. She couldn't swim, she knew how to, but couldn't because of her wings. She looked desperately to others for help; Bunnymund was physically incapable, North didn't know to and Sandy, well, he was made of sand and that didn't cooperate with water too well. Toothiana turned back to the darkened water; she could no longer see Jack at all. She suddenly made a decision that she didn't care what happened with her wings.

As soon as she angled herself to dive in, Bunnymund grabbed her wrist and pulled her back onto the dream sand cloud he stood on.

"No, Bunny! Let me go!" she cried.

She kicked and struggled against Bunnymund's grasp, but he just held her tighter.

"North, do something!" Toothiana pleaded.

"I….I cannot….I am sorry, Tooth," he murmured.

"Sandy?"

Sandy gave her the same helpless and apologetic look North had just given her. Her eyes darted between the three other Guardians, desperately searching for an answer of any kind. When she received no answer, she slowly looked back to the dark hole that had already begun to freeze over. Toothiana let out a choked sobbed and buried her face in Bunnymund's chest. Sandy solemnly brought the group back to the shore of the lake and gently lowered the clouds to the ground.

"North?"

North looked up at hearing his named called and saw Jamie, followed by his friends. The children had stopped upon seeing the Guardians' sorrowful expressions, but Jamie dared to walk closer.

"North…where…where's Jack?" he asked quietly.

The Russian glanced at each of the children's faces; all of them looked like they wanted to ask the same thing. He took in a breath to tell them what had happened, but the words never came. Their expressions became more worried as they walked closer. Jamie turned his attention to Sandy, who shook his head. Then to Bunnymund and Toothiana, neither of whom met his eyes. Jamie suddenly ran forward towards the lake, but North caught him in a strong arm. He moved Jamie back and stood in front of him to block his view of the lake.

"…Is not good idea," North said softly.

"W-what happened? Where is he?" Jamie asked.

"Children should not be here. Your parents will worry," North replied.

He gave Jamie a gentle shove back to the other children, half-heartedly waving his hands to shoo them back into town. But the children refused to leave without an actual answer. Sandy sighed and knocked all six of them out with a single ball of dream sand and caught each of them on their own little cloud. He pointed in the direction of the town, telling North he was going to take the children back home before they woke up.

"Thank you, Sandy…We will be at Pole, waiting for you…" North responded.

Sandy gave a short nod of acknowledgement, then started off for Burgess with the children, while North removed a snow globe from the inside pocket of his heavy coat. He muttered the named of his workshop and gave the globe a lazy toss. It landed only a few feet from them before shattering and opening its portal. Bunnymund picked up Toothiana and carried her through, giving North a questioning glance. North knew Bunnymund wanted to ask about the sleigh and reindeer. He waved the pooka off, reminding himself to send a group of yetis for them. Maybe if he'd given it a moment of forethought, he would have retrieved his sleigh and beloved reindeer. But as it stood, North had only brought one snow globe with him and its portal was beginning to close.

He trudged in after Bunnymund and was promptly greeted, unpleasantly, by Phil.

"Mitä ihmettä oikein ajattelit? Tiedät paremmin kuin menemään ulos kun taas loukkaantui niin!"

"Not now, Phil," North murmured, "There is time for scoldings later."

"Pohjois?"

North pinched the bridge of his nose, then rubbed his face hesitantly.

"Mitä tapahtui?" Phil prompted.

"Ah…I need for you to arrange memorial…again," North answered.

"…Mitä tapahtui?" Phil repeated, "Miksi minun on järjestää muistomerkki taas?"

Arranging a memorial service was not something the yeti liked to do; or anyone liked to do, for that matter. Sandy's memorial had been more than enough for him. He never wanted to do that for anyone again, especially for another Guardian. Phil stared at North, silently demanding an explanation until he finally got one.

"Is for Jack," North admitted.

Phil's eyes widened as he dropped the box of toys he'd been moving. The two stood in silence until North gave him a pleading look. Eyes that had once been so full of wonder now held nothing but despair. Phil let out a breath, retrieving the box from the floor and muttered he would start right away. North thanked him and retreated to his private workshop.

"Oh, and Phil" North stopped and turned back, "Someone will need to get reindeer. We could not bring them back."

The yeti bowed his head and continued through the main workshop. When North reached his private shop, he dragged the large wooden chair back and collapsed into it. He leaned on his desk, propping his head up with one hand, covering his eyes. He remained motionless, wondering why. Why had Pitch gone so far this time? He could understand the fallen king wanting revenge, but North had always felt a sort of kindred feeling between Pitch and Jack. He turned the question over in his mind for hours until there was a knock at his door.

"Come in," North sighed, unmoving.

Phil opened the door and took a half step inside.

"Se on aika," Phil muttered.

North grunted, pushing himself up and following the yeti. Everything in the main workshop had been cleared out, just as it had been for Sandy's memorial. There was not even the slightest glimmer of life in the eyes of any yeti or elf; certainly not in the eyes of the Guardians. Toothiana appeared to have cried herself out and was now looking worn beyond her years. Bunnymund, still trying to be the brave one, kept his gaze fixed on the floor to avoid tears himself. Sandy watched the little flames dancing atop their candles until he saw North. The silent Guardian gave a curious look, as if asking if this was the way it had been they all thought he died.

North gave a slight nod and picked up the candle. He walked over to the elegantly decorated tiles set in to the floor, expecting to see an intricate snowflake in the center as Jack's symbol. Instead, there was a carving of Jack's face in the center; the same one as on the end of the capsule that held his baby teeth. North stopped, staring at the image of Jack's mischievous grin. He felt his heart hammering against his chest and tears blurring his image. North turned his head to Phil, wordlessly asking why he'd done that.

The yeti did not meet his gaze, but in the way he stood and held a candle, he could see the yeti deeply cared for the boy who'd given him so much grief over the years. North drew in a ragged breath, swallowing thickly and blinking away his tears. He forced himself forward and set his candle at the top of the tiles.

One by one, they all placed the candles around the memorial. The flickering flames cast dancing shadows across the carving, making it look as if the visage were alive. As if Jack was laughing at some prank he'd managed to pull over them. With that sight before him, Bunnymund's bravery cracked and tears slid down his face.

xXxXx

"_Jack, relax…_" a smooth voice echoed.

Though Jack had given up his struggle to swim, he mind still raced with fear of the darkness and hope that someone would bring him back up. It was that same darkness as when he'd first awakened beneath the lake's surface. There was far too much darkness; it was too thick, too suffocating. Even at this time of day, the sun failed to reach how far down Jack had sunk.

"_You're perfectly safe down here._"

He didn't know where the voice was coming from, but he was sure he knew who it was. Jack thrashed at the shadows that seemed to move as best as the water would let him.

"_So ungrateful,_" Pitch tutted, "_Even though I saved your life once before._"

Jack immediately stopped thrashing and shot look of disbelief and confusion into the darkness. The Man in the Moon had saved him. Why would Pitch try to take credit for that?

"_How long do you think you were down here, all those years ago?_"

In all honesty, he'd never thought about it. Jackson Overland had died during the day and came back as Jack Frost in the night, so he just assumed it had been no more than a day.

"_Tell me, when you…'wandered' back into to Burgess, what was everyone doing?_"

Clearly, Pitch didn't expect Jack to say anything, especially now that his lungs were filled with the cold water. He just wanted Jack to think about what he was saying.

"_Was anyone in mourning?_" Pitch asked, "_Or…were they just carrying on with their lives?_"

Jack remembered that night perfectly, he would never forget it. He'd made his way to the town, in a far from graceful fashion, and just started greeting everyone. The only thing odd he had noticed was that no one said anything back to him. No one had been in mourning that night.

"_That's right. You were down here for quiet sometime, dear Jack. The Man in the Moon_," Pitch spoke the name with disgust, "_was ignoring you even before you were Jack Frost._"

Jack scowled and glared up at the darkened ice covering the surface so far above him. He couldn't see the moon, but hoped that Manny knew that look of hatred was for him. Jack's look softened when he saw an object drifting down, carelessly and slowly swinging side to side.

"_I took care of you Jack…_"

The shadows appeared to reach up and grab it, bringing it down to him and resting it in the crook of his shoulder. It was his staff and having it back gave him a profane sense of safety once again.

"_I kept you safe from death's decay,_" Pitch said, "_Were it not for me, you would be nothing but rotted corpse. Laying where you are now…_"

And just like that, all safeness drained right out of him.

"_I kept you safe, though,_" Pitch reminded him, "_I knew there was something special in you before the Man in the Moon did. When that neglectful man realized your potential, he took you away from me…After I'd been looking out for you for two whole months…_"

If he'd been breathing, that fact would have stolen his breath away. If he hadn't been underwater, tears would be rolling down his face. The Man in the Moon didn't save him. At all. He just wrote him off as another unfortunate boy who met an untimely death. He didn't make him a Guardian because he saved his sister, he made a Guardian because he didn't want Pitch to have him. Jack gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, subconsciously curling around his staff.

"_What will you do now, Jack?_"

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** if you did that author's challenge, I am so sorry to cause such sad feels. I was listening to that song while writing the memorial scene and I just couldn't not cry. you all should thank **_**Little Kunai**_** for boosting the reviews and motivating me to grind this out so soon. I was actually planning on putting it off until I had finished a drawing for the next chapter.**

**160 reviews please~**


	15. Winter is Coming

Sandy flew over Burgess, enjoying the crisp, late autumn air. He had a tendency to visit places early after stressful holiday, such as Thanksgiving in this case. He thought that many of the adults who spent the entire day, even the previous, preparing theirs home deserved to get some rest earlier than normal. Not to mention those who had eaten so much they felt like they could barely move. Once the youngest children and overworked adults were asleep, Sandy decided to take a brief break and go to the lake.

It had remained frozen all through the summer and fall. While it had a number of scientists and environmentalists confused, as did the strange weather at the beginning of summer, Sandy knew why. So did Jamie and his friends, who could often be found hanging around the lake. It had taken the Guardians weeks to finally tell them what had happened, but by that point, the kids had already pieced most of it together. They hung around the frozen lake as a sort promise to Jack that they would never forget him. Sandy thought it was touching, but he knew one day they would forget; just as all children did.

When Sandy saw the kids sitting beside the shore, talking and laughing, he came up beside them and silently scolded them for being out so late. They may be young teenagers now, but if he was there to start putting everyone to sleep, they out too late. Even if he did come a little early tonight.

"Aw, c'mon, Sandy. Can't we stay out just a little longer?" Pippa pleaded.

Sandy shook his head. He knew they parents would probably start to worry if they were out much longer, but that wasn't the main reason he wanted them to go home; not tonight anyway. The Man in the Moon had told him something was going to happen tonight. Sandy didn't know what it was and Manny said nothing more on the subject. But if it was enough to get the Man in the Moon to talk, Sandy wanted the children home where they were safe.

"You have to let us stay, it's practically the start of winter now…" Jamie whined.

Sandy frowned, forming a calendar of his head and an arrow pointing to December twenty-first. That was the day winter actually started. Jamie knew that, he'd said that because Thanksgiving was always the first day Jack came back to Burgess. Sandy knew that as well, but hearing Jamie say that suddenly gave him the chills.

xXxXx

Pitch had grown tired of Jack's still life under the icy lake, but he knew he had to be patient with the spirit. That was always the key, no matter who was dealing with Jack. His knew his patience had paid off when the winter spirit finally stirred from his long slumber. Pitch watched with growing anticipation as the murk of the lake's bottom stirred at Jack's slightest movement. The shadows excitedly curled around Jack, as if to help him up.

"_Well, Jack?_" Pitch grinned.

Jack didn't reply, having water still filling his lungs and mouth. But the dead serious look in his cold eyes was all the response Pitch needed: _I want to be believed in….I _will_ be believed in._

xXxXx

Sandy had entertained their arguments long enough. He once again shooed the young teens back in the direction of town. He smiled as he followed their reluctant start back home, but they hadn't gone more than a few feet before his froze. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. The teens could feel it as well and looked to Sandy for an explanation. He didn't have one. He stared at the ground, brows knitted together in confusion, then he slowly turned to the lake.

A low, familiar laugh echoed from the shadows of the trees surrounding the lake. Sandy motioned for the teens to come closer to him. They did so without having to be told twice, the clung to each other and beside Sandy. They could hear Pitch's soft, taunting laughter. Sandy glanced down at them and saw the same fear in their eyes as they'd had years ago when the Guardians had fought with Pitch. He hugged them closer, trying to ease their growing fear and deprive Pitch of any extra power.

"It's not me you need to worry about," Pitch chimed with another laugh.

A low thud pulsed from the center of the lake; from the icy scar formed when Jack fell through. Sandy searched through the shadows around them, demanding answers from Pitch, wherever he was hiding. Another pulse rolled through the earth and shook the ground the stood on.

"Sandy, w-what's going on?" Caleb asked.

Sandy returned his gaze to the lake. The scar was cracking with each pulse, like it was being struck from beneath. Sandy's normally expressive face fell blank with fear. Another pulse and the ice broke; an old, twisted wood staff pierced through the surface. Sandy moved the children behind himself, raising a golden sand shield. The staff came down, clutched by a deathly pale hand, and braced against a less fractured portion of ice.

The hole shuddered as more chunks broke away and a second hand was placed on the ice. The chunks of ice broke and fell apart as a hooded figure dragged itself halfway out of the dark waters. For a moment, it held itself there, hacking up mouthfuls of water at a time.

"No…J-Jack?" Jamie breathed.

He took a deep breath of air, the first in nearly five months, and stared up at them with vibrant cerulean eyes. But Sandy saw past that and noticed something else. He wasn't sure if the collar still clung to Jack's neck, but the black inky mark the sprawled across the left side of his face was a much worse omen. Jack took another deep breath before heaving himself the rest of the way out of the water. He stood up in a shakily, using the staff as a crutch to steady himself. His soaked clothing began to refreeze upon meeting the air, but it wasn't the carefree swirls of frost on the edges. Small sheets of ice clung to him, icicles formed where residual water sought to drop.

As if the unfolding scene as a whole wasn't frightening enough, Sandy could see puffs of Jack's breath as snow started to drift down. Jack's breath could never be seen in the cold, his body temperature, or lack thereof, always matched it. The ice on his clothing clinked and cracked as he straightened up, keeping his eyes fixed on the group standing at the shore. His icy eyes drifted from one face to the next, taking in their frightened stares. They could see him.

A numb, twisted grin worked its way onto his face. He lifted off the ice, just barely, and drifted over the lake towards them. There were no intricate fern patterns on the ice as he passed, only thickened and distorted patches of ice. Watching him come closer was almost like watching a wraith. Jack paused as reached the shore, then floated up to Cupcake, bending over to be face level with her and still remain in the air. She clutched closer to Sandy, trying to put some distance between herself and the bone-chilling air that accompanied Jack.

"Can you see me?" he asked smoothly and softly.

Cupcake hesitated; Jack's grin faltered.

"Can you see me?" he repeated firmly.

Not knowing which was the right answer, but sure a negative one probably wasn't it, Sandy nudged Cupcake.

"Y-yes…" she stammered.

He wasn't satisfied with the answer, he clenched his jaw and glared into her brown eyes.

"Yes! Yes, I can see you, Jack!" Cupcake panicked.

Then the broken grin returned to his pale face. He moved, with an unsettling jerking fashion, over to Caleb and Claude. Both of them stood shivering with chattering teeth.

"And you two?" he asked.

"O-of course we c-c-can," Claude stuttered.

Jack glanced from Caleb to Pippa, then Monty. All of them nodded furiously as they stood shivering. Jack landed on the ground, ice spreading out from under his feet as he stepped in front of Jamie. He leaned over, getting uncomfortably close to Jamie's face and sending violent chills through his body with his cold breath.

"Jamie?" Jack prompted.

"W-what?"

"You see me, don't you?"

"Y-yeah, I w-w-was the f-first person to s-see you and b-believe in y-you…"

The cold was almost too much for him to talk, or to even move now. Sandy positioned himself between Jack and the shaking teens. Jack narrowed his eyes at Sandy for interrupting, but let out a breathy laughter.

"That was all I needed to hear," he grinned.

Jack lifted off the ground again and casually drifted past them. They watched him, in his wraith-like movements, as he disappeared into the trees, freezing branches with a tap of his staff as he went. It wasn't until he was sure Jack wasn't coming back that Sandy gathered the young teens up on a cloud of dream sand and whisked them back home. He didn't have time for their protests or questions, he just immediately knocked them out and then dashed off to Santoff Clausen.

xXxXx

"What are you going to do?" Pitch asked.

"I don't know," Jack hummed.

Again, patience was still the key. The Nightmare King watched as they boy poked a large rhododendron with the butt of his staff and froze the entire thing in a case of ice. Jack shouldered his staff, and tilted his head in curiosity at the frozen plant.

"I think I should go pay a visit to someone first," Jack thought aloud.

It may not have been the exact answer Pitch was looking for, but it wasn't a bad idea either.

"Why don't we take a short cut then, my dear boy?" Pitch offered.

The shadows gathered and swirled behind him, a dark mockery of the portals the snow globes created. In it, he could see the portal would take him to the entrance of one of the Warren's tunnels. Although Jack preferred flying, he was still a bit sleepy and accepted Pitch's offer with a sarcastic thanks. Pitch scowled, but said nothing as he followed after Jack into the portal.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** not quite as long as I wanted this to be, but here you go. shit's about to go down in the Warren. and, I drew up a quick drawing for this scene: **** leoarcana . deviantart art / Winter-is-Coming – 360850507**

**175 reviews, please?**


	16. Snowman

Jack leaned against the side of the tunnel, watching the pooka fuss over the stone golems attempts to help. The Warren had come back from the deep freeze surprisingly well, though it was obvious the land had still suffered. The golems were supposed to be clearing out dead brush, and they were, but they were also tromping over other plants that had barely survived. Bunnymund was constantly hopping from one golem to another, giving them an earful about minding their steps. Jack narrowed his eyes at the pooka, leave it to him to berate someone for something they can't help. It was a miracle the golems were able to do anything other than trample things.

As Jack continued to watch Bunnymund, Pitch took it as an opportunity to take a closer look at both the collar and the new mark on Jack's face. Being that Pitch was a part of the shadows Jack was hiding in, the boy wouldn't have really noticed his proximity anyway. Even in the dimmed tunnel, Pitch could see the collar no longer held the nightmare sand's glittering liveliness, it was flat black; dead. The collar had unfortunately already run its course. Pitch couldn't say he was disappointed, given that he had no idea how long it would last because it had been a new idea. But it had done its job; the majority of Jack's memories had been successfully corrupted and he had been turned against the Guardians.

But what Pitch was more curious about was the black mark that sprawled over Jack's left cheek. It was just as flat as the collar, though it seemed to have a more inky quality than sand. He was just about to reach out to touch it when Jack suddenly moved forward out of the shadows. Not as if he been alerted to Pitch's closeness or startled by something, just as if he'd decided right then that he no longer wanted to stand there.

Jack crossed the Warren in a few slow and graceful leaps, as if gravity had no effect on him. At each spot he touched down, ice and frost spread in a jagged and disjointed pattern. As he watched him go, Pitch wondered if the lack of the usual artistic fern pattern was at all related to the mark on Jack's face.

The sound of skittering ice was all Bunnymund heard before a bone-chilling cold gripped his feet and froze him where he stood.

"Wha-what the bloody hell?!" Bunnymund yelped.

He gawked at the ice holding him and twisted around in search of an explanation. Then he spotted Jack standing just a few yards off. Bunnymund felt any color beneath his furry face immediately drain as the winter spirit smiled and waved at him.

"J-Jack….?" he breathed.

Jack's smile suddenly took on a more eerie appearance as he started towards Bunnymund. Light glinted off the pieces of ice clinging to Jack's clothing and clinking with each little movement.

"What's the matter, Cottontail?" Jack asked innocently, "You look like you've seen a ghost…or maybe Abby's here somewhere?"

"How are you…L-listen, mate, I didn't mean for ya to…" Bunnymund trailed off, looking up to the sky.

Jack looked at him curiously, then followed his gaze. A light aurora was faintly visible in the bright sky. Bunnymund's eyes flicked from the aurora to Jack, then he took notice of not only the mark on his face, but also something lurking in the shadows. The feeling of ice cracking around his nearly numb feet tore his attention from the shadows and back to Jack.

"Better hurry along, wouldn't want anyone to worry about the Easter Bunny," Jack sneered.

Bunnymund stared at him in confusion.

"I just came by to say hello," Jack offered as he turned away, "…And to say I still think this place looks better with little snow."

Jack darted off into the sky with a burst of freezing wind, kicking up a small flurry of snow and frost. Seconds after he left, snow began to drift down in heavy flakes as clouds blocked out the Australian summer sun. Bunnymund hesitated for a moment, looking between the aurora and where Jack had disappeared, trying to decide what to do.

"Oi, you!" Bunnymund shouted.

A golem farther up the river of dyes, and on the opposite bank, stopped and twisted its stony head to show a curious face.

"Yeah, you, mate! Make sure none of this piles up too much!"

The golem turned its head to a determined face and gave as much of a bow as it could. Bunnymund glanced up at the sky one more time before tapping his foot on the ground and opening a tunnel. He hopped down inside and bounded off as fast as he could to Santoff Clausen. Bunnymund didn't even pause for a breath as his tunnel put him just outside the workshop, he just kept up momentum and went straight inside.

Sandy tugged on North's pants to alert him to Bunnymund's arrival and then turned to Bunnymund with a series of rapidly shifting images.

"I'm sorry, mate. Ya goin' to fast there," Bunnymund shrugged, "But I think I know what you're tryin' to say—"

"If that is case, then you saw Jack too?" North asked.

"Somethin' ain't right, North. I mean, how could he…"

Bunnymund didn't know how to finish the question. Jack had already died before they'd met him. Plus, he was now an immortal and a Guardian. The more Bunnymund thought about it, the more he wondered if it was at all possible for Jack to die, even if children stopped believing in him like he feared. Bunnymund shook the thoughts from his head and looked to North for an answer.

"I do not know," North admitted, "But you are right, my friend. Something is very wrong."

North nodded to Toothiana, who came forward with Jack's tooth box. She bit her lip and let her shoulders sag before meeting Sandy and Bunnymund's eyes with her own.

"I-I don't know how I didn't notice it, but…" Toothiana bit her lip again, "His teeth…his memories…they're completely ruined."

"What?" Bunnymund blurted.

Several question marks popped up above Sandy's head. Toothiana held the golden box out for them to see its contents. They'd known that the teeth had started to decay, but they just assumed it would stop after Jack fell through the ice again. Inside the box, sitting on now stained silk, were sharp little remnants of once brilliant, white teeth.

"All his important memories were so corrupted," Toothiana murmured, "Those little bits are just unimportant memories that won't help at all…"

"So what do we do now?" Bunnymund asked quietly.

"Man in Moon is silent on matter. Is quite frustrating," North sighed, "But is clear to me that we cannot be gentle with Jack anymore. If he is wanting to fight with us…we will have to fight back."

"North, no!" Toothiana protested.

"I do not like either. But we try talking, we try subduing. Neither work. I have feeling things will be getting much worse if we do not put end to this now."

xXxXx

Off in the northern city of Heiligenhafen, Germany, Jack sat perched up in a tree and watched a group of children playing in the snow covered park. A few of them threw snowballs in attempt to start a snowball fight, earning a small grin from Jack, but it didn't seem to take. The children were much more interested in building snow forts and making snow men or angels. While Jack thought that was little odd, given that they were teenagers, he didn't mind it. He just liked seeing them enjoy what he'd brought.

He watched one teen patting and smoothing out the body of a snow man he'd been focused on for the last few minutes. The snowman was actually nearly perfect looking. A young girl, taking interest in it, walked up to the boy.

"Er braucht Kohle Augen und eine Karotte Nase," she said.

Jack didn't speak German very well, he only knew a handful of words and phrases he'd picked up over the years. But he did understand the words 'coal' and 'carrot', and from that he figured out what the girl had said.

"Ich brachte einige mit mir," the boy replied, "Wollen Sie mir helfen, das Gesicht auf ihn?"

"Ja," the girl smiled.

The boy kneeled down and reached into a backpack on the other side of the snow man. He pulled out several lumps of coal and carrot that had been smudged by the coal. The teen frowned at the carrot and set the coals down as he attempted to wash the carrot off with the snow. The girl giggled, causing him to blush and sheepishly apologize for the dirty carrot. She dismissed it and helped him arrange the coals into a face and buttons. When he offered for her to put the nose on, she gladly accepted.

"Er braucht Arme auch," the boy thought aloud.

"Gibt es irgendwelche Niederlassungen rund um?" she asked.

Jack wasn't sure what the girl had asked, but he understood the boy had said 'needs arms'. When the two started looking around for branches, Jack decided to break off a couple branches of the tree he was sitting in. It took a few minutes, and light gusts of wind, for them to notice the freshly broken branches. They retrieved the branches and stuck them into the side of the snowman, then stood back to admire it.

"Hätten wir doch einen Schal und Hut…" the girl mused.

"Dann würde er wie Frosty aussehen Snowman," the boy laughed.

Jack scowled. He remembered Frosty, he'd brought that snowman to life to have some fun with children several decades ago. But they children had never given him credit for it. He tried to ignore it, but then they all started thinking that the hat of some crack-pot failure of a magician was what brought him to life. At that point, Jack had left the town and took the cold weather with him, leaving the living snowman to melt away. Children still believed in Frosty, but not Jack.

Jack stood up and flew over to the snowman, landing softly behind it. Without another thought, he touched his staff to the back of the snowman and brought it to life.

"Hallo, Kinder!" the snowman bellowed.

"Ah, es ist lebendig?!" the girl shrieked.

Both of them staggered back from the snowman. The girl tripped over a hidden rock and grabbed the boy's arm for balance, but only ended up bringing him down with her. Several of their friends had stopped working on their snow fort and watched in shock, and slight horror, as the snowman shook the stiffness from its body.

It shuffled over and offered a wooden hand to the teens to help them up. The two only stared at the hand and then up at its coal face.

"Ist etwas falsch?" the snowman asked.

They watched as the coals that made up his mouth moved around like lips to form his words. The snowman pulled his hand back in an innocent and hurt fashion.

"N-nein, aber…" the boy started, "Wie sind Sie lebendig?"

"Gute Frage! Lassen Sie beantworten und bitten Sie diese…"

Jack leaned his staff against his shoulder and stuffed his hands in his sweater pocket. He knew what the snowman was saying, more or less, because when he'd brought it to life, he'd given it instructions on what to do and say. What the snowman was about to say was what Jack had wanted it to do most of all. The snowman leaned over the two teens, still sitting in the snow, practically trapping them there. Its cheery smile spilt open into a real mouth, the coals fractured into sharpened black teeth.

"Tun Sie glauben in Jack Frost?" the snowman growled.

"W-was?" the girl gasped.

The snowman roared and bellowed in their faces, earning horrified screams that echoed through the park's trees. The snowman glowered at them with its frighteningly lively eyes before giving a shudder and falling apart on them.

"Was zum Teufel war das?!" the boy shouted.

"Holen Sie es weg von mir!" the girl panicked.

Both of them scrambled to their feet, brushing the snow off of them like it was some kind of infectious material. The boy looked around in fear, expecting some other snowy creation to come to life. He froze as soon as his eyes landed on Jack. The girl tried to ask him something, but when he didn't answer, she looked to where his eyes were fixed and she saw Jack standing there as well. Jack gave them a mischievous grin and little wave.

"Jack Frost…" the snowman's voice rumbled beneath their feet.

Both the two teens and their friends all yelled in fear and took off running as fast as they could, leaving Jack alone in the park. Jack laughed to himself, twirling his staff and strolling along through the park.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** if my German is bad, please forgive me. I don't speak it and never studied it, I only know a couple words and numbers. hopefully it all translates right… so um, can we maybe break 200 reviews…?**


	17. Curiosity

Shortly after frightening the children at the park in Germany, Jack discovered another trick he could do. It was similar to bringing the little frost bunny to life in Jamie's room as well as the snowman. But instead of a snowy creature that only lived for a minute or two at most, they were creatures of ice who stood as strong as the animals they copied. The darkness that filled their bodies and tinted them darker kept the alive.

Jack had started with a few small animals, no more than dangerous than a house pet, and watched them move around. They were disjointed movements at first, as the creatures learned how to move their stiff bodies, but after a couple minutes, they moved as easily as the real things. Jack watched a cat attempting to climb up a nearby tree. But when its claws slipped from the wood and the creature fell to the ground, its body cracked and broke against the ground and the darkness inside it spilled out. The gaseous material drifted across the ground back towards Jack and lifted up to swirl around his hand. He could feel it gently tighten and curl up his arm until he felt it touch his face; where the dark mark was.

He stared curiously at his hand before touching his face where the feeling had disappeared, but he felt nothing there. Jack wondered about it until two nearby creatures had started play-fighting with each other. One accidentally snapped the other's leg clean off and again, the gaseous darkness spilled out and came to Jack. As the eerie feeling twisted up to his face again, he glanced back the creature; just a pile of broken ice and frost. He looked to where the cat had fallen and saw the same thing.

If he was going to make more of these animals, they would have to be ones that were stronger. Especially if he wanted them to spook other children and tell them to believe in him the way the snowman had.

xXxXx

While the others had immediately started looking for Jack, Bunnymund decided to take a quick detour back to his Warren. He was paranoid that the Warrens might end up in another deep freeze, though there wouldn't be much he could do if that was the case. He jumped out of the tunnel into the Warren and stopped. Everything was covered with snow, but it was a light and fluffy snow; it wouldn't hurt anything. Bunnymund gave a half-heartedly laugh as he relaxed and looked around for the golems. He saw the tops of their heads as they ran along the opposite side of a nearby hill.

"Bunch of drongos playin' in the snow…" he sighed.

Then his animal instincts kicked and told him something was wrong. Bunnymund took a step and squinted his eyes to get a better look at the golems. They weren't showing their happy faces, they were showing fearful faces. Bunnymund bounded forward through the knee-deep snow up to the top of the hill. There, he could see the golems weren't playing; they were trying to run away. Dark, icy replicas of dingoes chased the golems, snapping at their feet and swiping at their backs. One of the dingoes stopped, noticing Bunnymund, bared its icicle teeth at him.

"What the bloody hell?"

The dingo ran forward, gnashing its teeth and growling furiously at him. Bunnymund panicked and immediately threw a boomerang at the dingo. The boomerang connected with its jaw and sent a sickening crack filled Bunnymund's ears as the dingo's jaw shattered at fell into the snow. The dingo skidded to halt, just a few feet short of Bunnymund, and stared at the ground where its broken jaw laid. The boomerang circled back to Bunnymund; he caught it and held it at the ready along with the other one. Two other dingoes noticed and skulked over to either side of the first one. Slowly, the one with the missing jaw lifted its head back to the pooka. Its eyes gleamed with a new anger and its 'fur' clinked as it bristled.

"I don't what the bloody hell you are or what made ya," Bunnymund snarled, "But ya ain't welcome here."

The beast gave a strangled roar and lunged at Bunnymund, flanked by the other two. Bunnymund sidestepped the broken-jawed dingo as it leapt through air and ducked beneath the second. The second dingo whirled around the snap at Bunnymund's foot, only to receive a sharp kick in the neck that sent crack skittering over its body. It yelped and sank back, making way for the third dingo whose claws slashed through the air and caught Bunnymund across his chest. He staggered back, clutching his chest. The broken-jawed dingo lunged for him again, claws outstretched and remaining teeth poised to sink into his flesh.

Bunnymund reacted instantly and smashed his boomerang into the side of its face, breaking off the remainder of its muzzle, but it still managed to tackle him to the ground. Bunnymund brought his legs up under the dingo and kicked as hard as he could. The dingo's torso cracked as it was sent several feet straight up into the air. He rolled out of the way as the dingo came back down and hit the ground hard. Fractures and cracks shot all over its body, dislodging chunks of ice. The other two dingoes bristled and glared at Bunnymund.

"Come on then, ya ninnies," he taunted.

The two snorted and turned tail, barking at the others who still chased golems. The others perked up curiously but followed them into the shadows and disappeared. Bunnymund slumped to his knees, looking at his paw, now covered in his blood. He gritted his teeth, covering the claw marks again, and turned his attention to the broken dingo in front of him.

Fractures continued to spread across its body until it shattered into a pile of indiscernible chunks of ice, frost and black sand. Both sat atop the snow, glittering in the fading sun. It might've been beautiful had it not been for where it came from. Bunnymund waited a few minutes for the gleam to leave the sand, indicating its death, before he reached out and nudged it with his boomerang. Instead of losing its gleam, the darkened sand separated itself from the pile and rose up like smoke dispersing into the air.

He grunted and hauled himself back to his feet. He didn't doubt for a second those were the only icy creations, but he had to do something about his bleeding chest before he could do anything else.

xXxXx

Jack laughed as he watched an ice-wolf chase down a mailman. Of course, it wouldn't kill the man. Hurt him, maybe, but not kill. A dead person didn't make a useful believer. Like all the other ice creatures, it would pin the man down and give him a good scare by speaking Jack's name. Getting the animals to say his name was difficult enough because of the shapes of their mouths, but his name was really all he needed them to say.

Jack laughed again as the mailman began throwing letters and small packages at the wolf in a futile attempt to slow it down. The letters did nothing and the most the packages did was scratch and anger the wolf. The wolf howled and lunged at the man, tackling him to the ground. It stood over him, snarling and baring its fangs, as it lowered its head closer. The wolf growled Jack's name before nipping at the man's nose and leaping off of him. The man remained completely still on the ground, trying to sort out the horror that had just happened to him.

The expression on the man's face was enough to earn another laugh from Jack. And that time, the man heard him. He bolted upright and searched frantically for the source of the laughter. When his eyes settled on the winter spirit, Jack grinned at waved at him. The man's eyes went wide and his face paled as fell back to the ground, unconscious. Jack rolled his eyes; every adult had a tendency to faint at the sight of him.

Overhead, a small flock of ice-sparrows raced through the air. Curious to see what the birds would do, Jack took off after them. He had to admit he was a little disappointed when the birds continued well out of the city, but it just made him all the more curious. They flew over the neighboring forest and settled into trees at the base of a mountain. The birds sat in various branches, idly chirping and hoping around. Jack scowled at the flock and knocked one bird from its perch with his staff. The sparrow chirped and squawked in panic as it fell, but managed to right itself before hitting the ground. It flew back up to Jack, determined to peck him for what he'd done. However, when it came level with Jack and met his eyes, the bird decided against it and settled back onto a branch.

Jack sighed and looked around; he'd followed them dozens of miles from the city. When he glanced at the mountain, he could almost feel something beckoning him closer.

xXxXx

"Are you sure he's here, North?" Toothiana asked.

"He must be," North nodded, "I tell snow globe to take us to Jack."

Toothiana pursed her lips nervously and sat back beside Sandy. She didn't doubt that the snow globe had done as it had been instructed, but there had been a few occasions where the snow globes had mixed up locations of things. With that in mind, Toothiana was almost sure this was another mix up. There was nothing happening here. Only the usual light snow descended on the higher portions of the Blue Ridge Mountains. In fact, it was quite peaceful when compared to other parts of the world that were receiving rogue winds and blizzards. The more she thought about the stillness here, the more it began to worry her. These were the Blue Ridge Mountains, which happened to be where Cold Mountain was located; where Old Man Winter's final resting place was located.

The mountains themselves didn't provide a suitable place to land the sleigh, so North was forced to bring it down at the base of Cold Mountain. And, because waiting for North to hike up the mountain would take days, Sandy offered to help the Russian up the mountain. Shortly after landing the sleigh, the ground beside them opened up into a tunnel.

"Ah, Bunny! You caught up," North greeted, "Maybe tunnels are faster."

"Ain't the time mate," Bunnymund breathed, pulling himself out of the tunnel.

"What happened?" Toothiana gasped, fluttering to his side and looking over the bandages.

"Frostbite made a couple ice dingoes," Bunnymund replied, "An' Pitch's nightmare sand brought 'em to life…Somethin' tells me those ain't the only beasties either."

"You think Jack and Pitch have made many of these creatures?" North asked.

Bunnymund's ears perked up and flicked backwards as a chilly draft swept over their feet.

"I don't think, mate," he murmured, "I know."

Bunnymund turned to face the tree line, as did the other three Guardians. Their gaze was met by that of a single pair of bright, ice-blue eyes in the shadows. The creature let out a low growl; the fading light reflecting ominously off its sharpened teeth.

"What is it?" Toothiana whispered.

"Is bear," North grumbled, "I know the sound well."

Just as North had said, a massive ice replica of an especially dark black bear lumbered out of the trees. It moved along haltingly at first, but its movements soon became as fluid as that of a real black bear. The bear lowered its head and spread its front legs apart a bit.

"What do we do?" Toothiana panicked.

The bear reared up on its hind legs, letting loose a ferocious roar that startle all the nearby birds out of their nests.

"We fight!" North yelled, drawing his swords.

"No, we gotta run, mate!" Bunnymund snapped, "Sandy!"

The sandman nodded and wrapped North up in a blanket of sand and drew him onto a cloud of dream sand. Bunnymund quickly jumped onto it as well as the bear came back down on all fours and charged full speed at them. Toothiana darted straight up and out of the reach of the bear's jagged claws. Angered at missing her, it turned and made a swipe for Sandy. Instead of striking the Guardian, the bear was met with empty air and ball of dream sand to the face as Sandy lifted his two companions out of reach. Sandy smirked at the bear as he pawed lazily at its face and staggered back.

However, that smirked was wiped off his face when the bear shook its head and roared again. Sandy panicked and motioned to Toothiana that they were going to follow Bunnymund's idea to just run from the bear. She nodded and zipped off towards the top of the mountain. Sandy was close behind her, towing along Bunnymund and a very disappointed North.

"Is only bear," North huffed, "I fought many of them in my youth."

"Yeah, in yer youth," Bunnymund agreed, "But in case ya haven't noticed, yer gettin' old now. I'm hurt, Tooth hasn't got a weapon or her fairies, and Sandy's knock-out sand didn't work too well."

North fumed silently for another minute before speaking.

"Most of what you say is true…Most," North agreed.

"Plus, we should be lookin' for Frostbite. Not playin' with his deranged pet things," Bunnymund added.

North chuckled at the idea of Jack having a pet. Of course it would be made of ice, nothing else could hang around Jack for so long; except maybe a penguin or a polar bear.

"So, where exactly is he anyway, ah?" Bunnymund asked.

"Jack is somewhere on mountain," North replied, "But I do not know exactly where."

"Bet ya bottom dollar he's going for Old Man Winter," Bunnymund sighed.

"I think so too," Toothiana chimed in, "What else would bring him to _this_ mountain?"

"Then we go for Old Man Winter's statue," North said.

Sandy nodded in agreement and indicated it would take them a couple of minutes to get there. It would be faster, obviously, if they each were able to fly. But since Sandy had to carry North and Bunnymund, he couldn't exactly be quick and reckless in his flight.

xXxXx

Jack stood before the frozen statue of Old Man Winter. His eyes traced over each curve and wisp of ice surrounding the statue, giving a much more elegant and supernatural appearance. The old man's eyes were closed and his face full of a hopeless defeat. Jack's eyes trailed down to the dead spirit's outstretched hand. It wasn't held out in a desperate plea for help like a spirit who hadn't wanted to accept its death. Rather, it was held out like an offering. Jack studied the statue a moment longer before acknowledging the presence that had joined him with a glance over his shoulder.

"Admiring your predecessor?" the shade asked.

Pitch grimaced at the dark mark over Jack's face. He still didn't know what had caused it and he certainly didn't like not knowing.

"Something like that," Jack mused, "Why are you here?"

"To compliment and congratulate you," Pitch smiled.

"On what?"

"Scaring and making children believe in you is easy enough," Pitch said, "But to have the same effect on adults? Well done, Jack."

Jack snorted and turned his attention back to the statue. Pitch frowned at the boy's lack of reaction. Clearly, the frozen statue of Old Man Winter held all of his attention at the moment.

"Would you like to know why he holds his hand out like that?" Pitch offered.

Jack glanced at him curiously.

"It is because elemental spirits cannot truly pass on until someone accepts their powers," Pitch explained, "And only a spirit of the same elemental can accept them."

Pitch grinned as Jack seemed to consider what he'd said. After a few silent minutes, Jack took a few hesitant steps forward. He glanced back at Pitch, unsure if what the shade said was true or not. Jack shrugged, deciding that either way, nothing bad could happen to him. If Pitch was wrong, he would just be holding the hand of icy statue. If Pitch was right, well, he was about to find out.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** okay, so…I rewrote this chapter a couple times and moved the order of events around. but at least you guys got a pretty decent sized chapter this time, right?**

**215 reviews? please and thank you~**


	18. Transference

For a moment, nothing happened. Both Jack and Pitch had to admit they were a little disappointed for that brief moment. Jack sighed and tried to take his hand back but found it frozen to the statue. The hand of the spirit of winter was frozen to an ice statue. Jack grimaced and tried to pull away, only to no avail. He began to childishly jerk his arm and even try kicking at the statue. Just as he was about to bark at Pitch to help him, he felt a jolt of energy run through his body.

Jack cautiously looked up to Old Man Winter's face. Again, the energy pulsed through Jack and a glow began to emanate from the statue's chest. The glow continued to grow in brightness until it filled the ice and gave the statue a disturbing liveliness. He wanted to try to take his hand back again, but his body wouldn't move.

"Jack, stop!"

Jack couldn't turn to see who said it, but he didn't need to; the Russian accent made it quite obvious. He heard Toothiana gasp and Bunnymund curse under his breath. Jack could only assume Sandy was there as well.

"I don't believe you four are welcome," Pitch sneered.

There was the sound of shifting sand and the drawing of weapons; the sound of shouts, demands and petty putdowns. But all of it was drowned out by another sound, one that only Jack heard.

"_You have finally come._"

The glow within the ice flickered at each syllable; Old Man Winter was speaking to him.

"_Though I wish you had come much sooner_," he continued, "_Preferably before all that has …happened to you…It matters not now though. What's done is done and I much desire to finally rest._"

A bone chilling cold washed over Jack and sent a sense of sudden panic through him. He could feel the cold playing with his hair, scratching over his skin, and pulling at his clothes. Jack gritted his teeth and struggled to get away from the feeling. However, his struggles only made it worse. With each movement, he felt the patches of ice covering his clothes crack and break away, taking the cloth with them, and allowing the chill to sweep over him with more unpleasant contact. Jack's teeth began to chatter at the deathly cold, making him feel all too human again and dredging up his final human memories.

"S-stop!" he shouted.

Jack was finally able to wretch his hand back from Old Man Winter's. The deathly cold tightened around him, almost suffocating him..

"_Thank you._"

Jack was left on his hands and knees, gasping for breath. When the cold subsided, or rather, once Jack was used to it, he immediately noticed something was wrong. Frosted and icy blue sleeves no longer covered his pale arms. In their place were long, neat black sleeves partially hidden beneath the wraps of another layer of black cloth tied with navy blue strings. The second layer was drawn up across the tops of his hands to his middle fingers. Jack sat back and looked at the cloth in confusion. In doing so, he saw that all of his hoodie had been replaced with this new cloth. His old, tattered pants had been as well.

As Jack stood up, the foreign feeling of shoes caused him to stumble and fall back onto his rear. The knee-length hems of his new shirt parted and allowed him to see the boots reach up to his knees, also bound by the dark blue strings. Then he realized he wasn't sitting on the hard ground. When he looked down, the soft caress of a white fur collar greeted him as he saw the dark blue cape extending down from it.

"Oh my, dear Jack," Pitch purred as he stepped out from behind a twisted column of nightmare sand.

Jack's head snapped up in Pitch's direction, making him aware of the weight settled around the back of his head. Jack tentatively reached up to feel a jagged Caesar styled crown of ice. Jack swallowed thickly and looked around. Stalactites of ice hung down from the ceiling, reaching towards the stalagmites rising from the ground. Snow covered the cave floor in a smooth, even blanket expect for where the Guardians lay. Jack retrieved his staff from the snow; its appearance had also changed from a frail looking wooden staff to one covered in near-black ice with a much more malevolent look.

"Don't worry, they aren't dead…unfortunately," Pitch said, "But you did give them all a good knock-out."

Jack used his staff to steady himself and adjust to the feeling of boots for moment. Then a thought struck him, he didn't know why he hadn't realized it before. Jack narrowed his eyes at Pitch and started towards him, suddenly just as graceful as he had been before and his cape billowing behind him. Pitch took several steps back in an attempt to keep some distance between himself and the approaching prince. Pitch silently ordered the defeated Nightmares to reform themselves and come to his side.

Jack heard the whiny of the horses as they trotted over to Pitch's side to offer him what little protection they could. Jack held his staff out level and barred the horses from coming any closer. Pitch stared at Jack and then glared at the Nightmares. The horses shook their heads and stamped their hooves, but made no move to pass Jack.

"I want to ask you something," Jack said evenly.

Even in the now freezing cave, Jack's breath was still visible. If it was at all possible, his body temperature had dropped even further.

"Go ahead," Pitch replied, trying to hide his own fear.

"…You said when I fell through the ice…the first time," Jack added bitterly, "That you kept me safe from death."

"Yes, you—"

"Did you know I was trying to save my sister?" Jack cut.

"Of course, it was her fear that brought me…" Pitch trailed off under Jack's withering glare.

"And you didn't save _her_?" he growled.

"W-what? She didn't—" Pitch stopped.

"I gave my life trying to her," Jack seethed, "And you keep _me_ safe?"

He'd made a mistake. He'd told the truth about saving Jack. But Pitch had temporarily forgotten that all of Jack's memories had been corrupted; including the one of him saving his sister. In Jack's mind, Jenna had fallen in with him and died. Pitch tried to think of something to say that could ease Jack's growing anger, but nothing sensible came to mind. Instead, he could only try to distract him from it.

"You had something special, remember? You're Jack Frost," Pitch offered.

"And there was nothing special about Jenna?" Jack snapped.

Another mistake. Pitch took another step back and bumped into the wall.

"What are you going to do, hm? Kill the man who saved your life _twice_?" Pitch challenged, "You can't kill fear, Jack."

"Who said anything about killing you?" Jack asked, "What I'm going to do…is give you a head start."

Pitch stared at Jack, the anxious Nightmares behind him, and the staff coated in dark ice that stopped them. Then he realized what the mark on Jack's face was. Not only was it a physical sign of the corruption Pitch had brought him, but it was also a sign that the nightmare sand had infected Jack and given him control over it. Pitch's experimental way of exacting revenge had now greatly backfired on him. Pitch set his jaw and dared to glare back into Jack's ice-blue eyes.

A small smirk tugged at Jack's lips as he lowered his arm. The Nightmares bayed and charged forward at Pitch. The shade swiftly disappeared into the cave's shadows with a faint, frightened yelp. The horses skidded to a halt and pranced around in search of their former master. Jack noticed a shadow darker than the rest and immediately sent a spear of ice flying through the air at it. A gasp echoed as the shadow darted out of the way.

"Fine then, Jack. But do not think for a second," Pitch spat, "That you've bested me at my own game."

Jack sighed and struck the end of his staff to the ground; the Nightmares dissolved back into sand and slithered across the ground back to him. The sand swirled lightly around him before seemingly disappearing. Once it was gone, Jack strode out the cave, hardly giving the unconscious Guardians a second thought. His cape was suddenly caught on something and jerked him back, causing him to trip over his own feet and fall back into the snow. He shot a dirty look at his boots, then at what had caught the cape. He saw Toothiana clutching to the corner of it with surprising strength for someone who had just regained consciousness.

"Jack, w-wait," Toothiana mumbled, "Please…we're…We're sorry, Jack. Please, just…come back with us?"

For a moment, his anger was replaced guilt. But only until he reminded himself of what they'd all done to him.

"No," Jack replied coldly, narrowing his eyes.

Toothiana stared at him with shocked, heartbroken eyes as he tugged his cape out of her grip. Jack stood back up with more ease than the first time, but still used his staff for balance.

"W-what? But…why not?" Toothiana asked, "You're still one of us."

"One of you?" Jack repeated, almost laughing, "I was _never_ one of you. Even after the whole fight with Pitch, you said you didn't need me."

"No, Jack, that's…Pitch, he…!"

Jack ignored her as he continued out of the cave and flew off into the night sky, leaving them on the mountain. Toothiana bit her lip, trying not to cry as heavy snow began to fall and quickly pile up on the mountains. She turned to the other still unconscious Guardians and tried shaking them awake, but to little avail. She was only able to wake North back up and he'd nearly attacked her, momentarily mistaking her for an enemy.

"Oh, Tooth, is only you," he sighed, leaning back against the wall, "Where are Jack and Pitch?"

"They're gone," she replied softly, "Jack scared Pitch away."

"Scared Pitch away?" North repeated, "He is back on good side?"

Toothiana shook her head sadly. North glanced over at the statue of Old Man Winter, or what was left of it. The ice had cracked and broken apart, collapsing into a pile of shards dusted with snow.

"Proklyatiye…" North cursed.

Toothiana shivered at the freezing temperature of the cave. Staying there would do them no good, unless they wanted to get hypothermia. North pushed himself off the ground and walked over to where Bunnymund and Sandy lay. He hefted the two of them over his shoulders and started out towards the mountain path. If he'd known the situation they were going to be in, he would have kept a snow globe in his coat instead of leaving it in the sleigh at the base of the mountain.

As they walked down the mountain path, North kept looking up at the moon in the sky and scowling at it. Just as Toothiana was about to ask what he was thinking, North spoke.

"I am starting to see why Jack was always angry with Man in Moon," he said, "He leaves us with big problem and does not help."

Toothiana hummed quietly in agreement. The rest of their walk went in silence. They were fortunate enough, upon reaching the sleigh, that the bear that had attacked them was long gone; there were no signs of life, even the reindeer were gone. North couldn't say he was surprised at that though, he often left the reigns just loose enough for them to get out if he thought he was going to be a while. Toothiana fluttered ahead and began brushing piles of snow away. He carefully put Bunnymund and Sandy in the back seat and whistled for the reindeer to come back.

The sound echoed off the trees for only a few seconds before there was a disturbance at the tree line. The reindeer came walking out, without their usual excitement for flying. It was almost as if they knew what had happened. The reindeer took up their positions for North to reattach their reigns.

"At least Bunnymund will not be complaining this time," North grumbled.

o0o0o0o

_**Author:**_** bleeeeh, had major writer's block with this chapter…plus I had a hard time describing Jack's prince design. i drew a picture of my own version (was basing it off someone else's before) so here: leoarcana . deviantart art / Your - Highness - 366792412  
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**and I'm not gonna ask for reviews this time…b/c i'm not proud of this chapter**


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